Improbability
by Sukii-Sama
Summary: "I'm going to change things, change this, change everything, I don't know," Itachi had said. And she swore to help. It had been a pact made in the dead of night, determined out of desperation and full of fear and confusion between two children who barely knew each other, but it was a pact nonetheless. Eventual ItaXOC, gore, violence, ect.
1. New Eyes

S-S: Welcome to the first chapter of Improbability! It will be featuring an OC heavily, so please keep in mind that the first coupleof chapters will not be very canon focused, but it will get there!

And I dont own Naruto, as that right belongs to the great Kishimoto.

* * *

**Improbability**

**1**

**New Eyes**

* * *

_Dear reader;_

_If you have found this journal, then you are probably looking for answers. Answers along the lines of 'why'. Why did we do it? A great big answer that might just make people understand everything._

_Too bad. I haven't the ones that you want. _

_If I have learned anything over the course of my life, it is that the truth is rarely what we want it to be. Often times the truth is something that we didn't want to hear. Something that we cannot possibly comprehend. If, after you read all of this, you still cannot understand our reasons for making the choice that we made then I have but one thing to say to you. You are blessed. _

_We made this choice so that people, readers like you curious ones, could live a life without suffering. We swore to create a world where no one would have to see what we saw. I know that there will be those who hear stories about ninja and battles and chakra and I know that people might long for a life like that. Good. Keep dreaming. That truth is not what you might think. This truth might not be what you wanted. Too bad. It is, and it always will be, true. I have written down everything, everything that I can remember about this, everything that I have heard, and everything that I have put together. All of it is true._

_That is the one thing I can say with total confidence. I did not write a single lie._

_Read. Learn the truth. And maybe, if you can truly picture a world of bloodshed and shinobi, you will understand why we did it._

_You might not be able to picture the world that we lived in. You might think that these things could not possibly happen. Know that nothing is impossible. There is only the improbable, and how to get around it._

_-Keika_

* * *

**Many years ago...**

* * *

"Again, you have my thanks, and the thanks of Danzo-sama and Konohagakure. This information will be very helpful in winning the war." The man said, his voice a disturbing monotone.

The man was Root, and he was a shinobi, through and through. His scruffy brown hair was the only thing unruly about his appearance, the rest of his features looked so contained and neat as if to make up for the messiness of his hair. Thin jaw, nondescript hazel eyes, and no bright smiles or large grins to light up his blank face. His gloved hands placed the teacup gently down on the oaken table. The cup was still full, he hadn't drunken any of course, but he had picked it up and pretended to take a sip simply to be polite and thus helping to encourage further negotiations between Danzo-sama and the two civilians that sat on the other side of the table.

The man opposite him nodded, his plain black hair tied back with a strip of white linen in the style favored by most merchants and fishermen. As opposed to the Root agent, whose stature was almost of a child – indeed the ninja was only fifteen – the older man had tan skin and stocky shoulders. "We're not ninja like you may be, but even we can see that this war ain't gonna end anytime soon, and when it does, it most certainly won't be our victory." he said solemnly.

The thin woman beside him shook her head up and down in a frantic agreement, "We're happy to help this all end. Anything else you may need, please, ask. And tell Danzo-sama that if he ever requires anything from us, we'll be happy to assist him," she chimed in, her thin hands twitching nervously with a strand of her drab blond hair, her eyes darting about like she was afraid that someone was going to attack in any second.

The Root agent slipped the scroll into his pocket, his hand lightly resting on the plainly decorated porcelain mask that lay in front of him on the table. Root ninja wore masks that, unlike the ones of Anbu, did not portray animals. Although aid from civilians in winning a war was unusual, Danzo-sama had felt that it would not do good to look a gift horse in the mouth. When the civilian couple had contacted Root, Danzo-sama had almost jumped at the chance to get a hold on the information they claimed to have. Less than an hour's walk away from the house of the couple, was one of the main camps for a large part of Iwagakure's forces. The husband was a merchant that often traveled to Kusagakure, and the wife did a lot of trading with the ninja camped out near the Kusa border. Being civilians, many of the ninja didn't consider holding their tongues around the two, allowing them to pick up gossip and plans worth a mine of gold to any Konoha ninja.

And for some reason, the two were willing to sell everything they knew to their country's enemy. To the Root ninja, and to Danzo-sama, the reasons were a minor detail. After all, the civilians did not know anything that that could endanger Konoha, and the Iwa ninja were very unlikely to figure out that their plans had been discovered by a civilian couple. The Root ninja gave a slight nod towards the man, "I believe there was also the matter of Iwagakure's shinobi roster, and their current locations…" he trailed off with a small wave of his hand.

The woman looked up, "Ah, yes," she glanced at her husband, "Daiki, can you fetch those please?" she asked timidly, as if she expected him to refuse and hit her over the head. As soon as she had spoken, she returned her gaze to her hands, which were still working their way into her hair, intent on knotting the blond strands as much as possible.

Daiki nodded slowly and stood up, pushing his chair far back from the table to allow his stocky form room to leave. He took long slow steps towards the door, shutting the sliding kitchen door behind him as he left the room. In his slight absence, the wife took a deep breath of relief, and opened her mouth to speak, when she was suddenly cut off. A loud '_thwack_' echoed from outside into the still house.

The wife flinched at the noise and immediately looked out the open doors that gave a pleasant view of a wide gravel garden. Another '_thwack_', and the woman muttered a quiet, "Please excuse me," before she stood and left, going outside.

Unknown to the woman, the Root agent silently stood and walked to the doorway, looking out to where the woman was. She was striding towards a small child, a tiny girl that couldn't be older than four, who had been throwing rocks at a metal lamp pole. "Keika! I have told you time and time again not to throw things!" she yelled, her soft and timid voice rising to a shriek.

The girl, Keika, muttered something under her breath before turning her head away from her mother. The woman looked even more angry, "Do not talk back to me, you brat! I happen to be in a very important meeting! The work I'm doing is very important and I don't want you interrupting! Can you manage to stay out of trouble for a few seconds?" she screeched. The way she said 'you' was like an insult, all spit and fire, no loving parent.

"Stop being so scared!" the child yelled back, her voice oddly sophisticated for a four year-old, "Is not my fault, if you get 'fraid talking to ninja," with that, Keika tilted her head slightly to look behind her mother. Surprisingly enough, she was looking right at the Root ninja, at least he assumed she was, for her eyes were covered by her mop of unkempt blond hair. The ninja felt a strong urge to duck around the doorframe and remove himself from her gaze. That was strange. When was he, a highly trained killer, scared from the gaze of a child?

Furiously, the woman raised her hand as if to smack the child, but shakily lowered her arm, scared. She was hyperventilating, her chest heaving with anger and fear, "I have told you, never to do that! Don't you dare! I am not afraid, and you need to keep your mouth shut, you impertinent brat!" she shrieked. With one final glare at the child, she turned around and walked back to the house.

Keika pouted at her mother's back, before her mouth quirked up into a sneaky smirk. She picked up a stone from the ground and threw it defiantly at the metal post, resulting in a loud '_thwack'_. Her mother looked as though she was about to rip her hair out, but continued back the house. The Root agent raised an eyebrow – the post was a good fifteen meters away, and he could see that there was a rut in the pole from where it had been hit before in the exact same spot. Keika hadn't even been facing the pole when she threw the stone, she had been facing her mother. For a four year-old, that was strangely… ninja-like.

The Root agent ducked back inside the house and sat back down at the table just as the mother came back inside. From his calm demeanor, it appeared to the woman as though he had never stood up, or in fact, even moved at all. Brushing her apron off, the woman sat back down at the table, "I do apologize for the rude and disrespectful behavior of that girl." she said quietly, her voice losing its fire.

"… Your daughter?" the Root agent asked, not seeming at all curious, merely as though making simple conversation. In truth, the child had sparked a tiny interest in him, a strange curiosity for a simple civilian child.

The woman nodded slowly and reluctantly, "Unfortunately yes. I am ashamed to say that the child is mine." She sounded truly bitter and resentful about this, although what the child could have done to inspire such animosity at such a young age was unclear to the Root agent.

"Does she know why I am here?" he asked, the real question that was on the tip of his tongue got swallowed up in the thread of politeness. It would simply not do to insult those he was currently doing business with.

She nodded slowly, and answered in the same way, "Yes… I think. I do not believe that the child cares. She listens in and sneaks around," her voice turned more bitter, "Eavesdropping on me and Daiki's conversations. It doesn't matter though, she won't speak of it unless she wants to be punished, and it's not like anyone would believe the rotten child if she did tell." Before she could continue this tale of horrors that the child was subjected to, Daiki's chakra signature returned as the tall man slid the door open.

In his right hand, he held a rolled up map and a fat scroll, both of which had clearly seen better days and looked as though they had been shoved in a drawer for many months, going by the yellowing paper and faded colors. He sat back down at the table and placed the documents on the table, "That's the list of teams that Iwagakure has deployed recently, as well as the list of shinobi who participated in the war," he said, pointing to the fat scroll, "And this," he unrolled the map, revealing a detailed depiction of Iwa, Ame, Suna, Kusa, and part of the surrounding lands, the areas dotted with marks indicating what village's teams were posted where, "is the most recent map that I could secure." he finished, pushing both objects towards the Root agent.

With a respectful nod, the ninja took both of the items and placed them inside his weapons pouch for safe keeping. The wife removed her twitching hands from her hair as she stood and removed the tea cups from the table, depositing them in the kitchen sink, "Please, if you would like to stay for dinner, we would be very honored by your presence." she nervously asked, her eyes darting around the kitchen without looking him in the eye.

The Root agent opened his mouth to say that no, he couldn't and although he regretted it, he had to swiftly return to Konoha and get the information to Danzo-sama so – "I would be thankful to stay for dinner." he said instead, his words surprising himself more than the two civilians.

The wife blinked twice before shaking her head slightly and replied, "That's great. I'll just start cooking and food should be ready shortly." She hastily began to fill the sink with water to clean the tea cups and started to bustle around the kitchen gathering pots and pans, taking food out of the refrigerator, and pulling out a wooden spoon, making rather a lot of bangs and other such loud noises in the process.

Daiki stood and retrieved a pipe from one of the drawers in the kitchen. Filling it with tobacco and lighting it, he puffed happily away at it. "Don't worry," he said to the Root agent with a chuckle, "Kana won't poison dinner." Thinking himself to be unusually intelligent for discovering the reason as to why the Root agent did not drink tea, he chuckled again before settling down at the table with his pipe and an air of content superiority.

As she placed a particularly heavy saucepan down on the stovetop, Kana turned to Daiki and asked in a barely audible voice, "Dear, could you please tell that child to get inside now?"

He nodded with a sigh and rose from his seat, placing the heavy pipe down on the table, as resentful to part with it as if it were his lifeline. He trudged out to the door and yelled, "HEY! Get inside, Kana has some work for you to do!" His manner of addressing his child was vulgar at best, and not for the first time, the Root agent wondered what the child had done to deserve such treatment from her own parents.

Like a ghost, the blond girl appeared at the door, having made no noise to announce her arrival. "Yeah?" she asked quietly, "What can I do to help?" She didn't seem particularly eager to please her parents, and her tone was even a little bit rude.

Kana shoved a few bills into the girl's dirty hands, "We're out of butter. Go down to the market and buy three more sticks. And for the love of god, don't lose the money or drop anything or make a mess or whatever else it is you do." she hissed under her breath, shoving the child forcibly out of the door.

The Root agent stood and walked to the door, "I will go with her and make sure she does not cause trouble." he said calmly, "I will perform a henge so that the other villagers do not recognize me as from Konoha."

Daiki nodded slowly and tossed the ninja a concerned look, "Are you sure you want to go with her?" he asked, clearly confused as to why he would willingly spend time with Keika.

The ninja simply nodded again and glanced down at the raggedy blond child before he followed her out the door. He politely slid the paper door shut after they left the house. As they walked across the gravel garden towards the house gate, the Root agent made a conscious effort to make noise when he walked, so as not to frighten the child. To his surprise, he was the only one making sound. Despite walking quickly on gravel, Keika made no noise at all, her feet silent on the unsteady ground.

Before the two left the gate, and thus the house grounds, the Root agent stopped. Keika looked up at him curiously, "Whatcha you doing?" she asked, and he could practically feel her gaze behind her hair.

He formed a simple hand sign, "I am performing a henge. It changes my appearance." With a poof of smoke, he assumed the appearance of a nondescript brown haired-browned eyed man dressed in civilian clothing.

Keika titled her head curiously, "Well, it doesn't work very well then, does it? Are you sure you want come with me? Your clothes are pretty obviously from Konoha." she said, sounding knowledgeable and slightly skeptical of his abilities.

The Root agent glanced down at his hands, his ungloved, un-scarred hands. What was she talking about? The henge had worked perfectly. Keika said sadly, "Oh, you really think it worked, don't you? You don't know why I think it didn't. You're confused. I'm sorry." She turned her head to the ground and clasped her hands together sadly.

He was. He _was_ confused. He _did_ think the henge worked. He _didn't_ know why she thought it didn't. But his face was a perfect mask of indifference. So how did she know? And _why_ didn't she think the henge worked?

His questions only grew as they entered the town. Shops and stalls were set up all along the streets, and vendors called to the crowd of people. Merchants held up samples of their products to be observed by passersby, in the hopes of tempting lookers to become buyers. There were no ninja to be seen, and the Root agent realized that there were probably no ninja in the whole town. Instead hordes of civilians walked the streets, carrying shopping like ninja carried kunai. But no one, not a single person, called out pleasantries to Keika, and the people glared at her as they passed by. They made sure to walk away from her, the crowds parting around her like water. The henge had worked, and no one gazed at him with suspicion, but the angry looks were given to the child freely, and without any restraint. Some even spat at her as she passed.

The Root agent could see a problem in the near future. He glanced down at Keika and said, "I believe it would be easier if you gave the money to me, and I preformed the necessary transactions." Although this problem was obvious to him, he wondered if her parents knew of this, and if they had known, if they had sent her to the market anyways, hoping that she would be attacked.

Keika nodded and handed him the money, "This always happens when I come to town, but Kana sends me anyways. She sends me because she knows that people don't like me," she admitted reluctantly, like it was a big secret, "People don't like me. They think I'm a monster cause I can see them. Other people can't see people, but I can and no one likes me."

This strange explanation raised more questions than it answered. But he took the money without a verbal protest and walked over to the nearest stall. Purchasing the butter as quickly as he could, he hurried back to Keika, trying to walk as fast as possible, on the highly likely chance that someone might try to hit her while he was away. He held out the butter to her awkwardly, "Here," he muttered, unsure of what else to say.

"Thank you." she said, taking the items out of his hand with a smile, "It's real nice of you to buy the stuff for me." He gave a stiff nod at her acknowledgement and the two began to return to the house.

Once the two were far enough away from the market and the busy areas of the small town, the Root agent couldn't contain his curiosity any longer, "Why do you think the henge did not work?" he asked, only barely managing to keep sounding indifferent, his tone now slightly curious, which, considering the general nature of people like him, said a lot about his current curiosity.

"Well…" Keika said, clearly unsure as to how she should word it, "You just don't look any different. The people in town didn't look at you funny, but you still look the same to me. I know you did _somethin'_ but I just can't see what. This isn't the only thing weird 'bout me," she continued, grateful to have someone to talk to, even a stranger, "I can see people. Like you can see me all normally, right? But I can _see_ people. Like I know when Kana or Daiki's scared or angry or whatever, the same with everyone else. Sometimes I can even see what their thinking when it's a real strong thought. But whenever I try to ask them about it, they give me those weird looks and call me a freak and a monster, but they don't do it out loud, they just _look_ it instead. And I know when people are lying to me, or when they're telling the truth. I _see_ people." she looked up at him, nervous, "Is there something wrong with me?" she asked, her voice full of concern and honest uncertainty.

Blood pounded in his ears as realization came to his mind. He was not in possession of such a thing himself, but he knew the gist behind such things. The only thing that he could think of that came to mind instantly were the Sharingan and Byakugan of Konoha, although he had heard that there were more. "Keika-san," he said, his voice surprisingly calm considering what he was thinking, "May I see your eyes?"

She blinked twice, before uneasily reaching towards her blond hair, the untidy mess covering her upper face, "Sure, I guess. I keep 'em covered, cause people don't like my eyes. My eyes scare people." She pushed her hair back revealing the most fascinating thing the Root agent had ever seen. Her irises were silver, like for a mirror or piece of metal. A dark black swirl began in the center of her eye, where a pupil would have been, and swirled all the way out to the edges of her iris. It was a kekkei genkai. An undiscovered one at that. Keika looked up at him and grinned, "You aren't scared of my eyes. You _like_ them," she said, like it was the most amazing discovery she had ever made.

"Your eyes are fascinating." He said with total honesty. In his mind, he pondered the matter over thoroughly. This was quite possibly, the most rare and even unique kekkei genkai in the world. He had never seen anything like it, not even when fighting on the front lines, and he had never even heard whispers of an eye that could do what this one could.

When the two entered the gates of Kana and Daiki's house, the Root agent released his henge, glad to resume his usual appearance. Instead of walking strait back inside, he steered Keika over to the lamp post that she had been hitting with stones. He paused for a moment, looking at the dented metal. Dented. Metal. She was four! And she managed to dent metal. "Keika-san, I would like to test something." he informed her, walking over to the trees that lined the edge of the property.

She nodded slowly, "Sure. I know you're curious." she said. He reached into his weapons pouch and procured five kunai. Cautious at first of giving sharp metal to a small child, he delicately held them out to her. She placed the sticks of butter on the ground, and then curiously reached out her hand and held the weapon in her too-small hands perfectly, testing the balance of the blade. Relieved that she wasn't going to cut herself and bleed out anytime soon, he handed her the rest of the weapons and walked over to a tall oak tree that stood not less than twenty feet away.

Taking out his own knife, he hastily scratched five X's on the tree bark, placing each one a significant distance away from the others. "I would like you to throw each of the kunai on my command and hit each of the targets one time." he commanded, slipping back into the voice he used when he was playing the part of squad leader.

Keika nodded and grasped the kunai that seemed vastly oversized in comparison to her tiny hands. She reached behind her head towards the sky, and with a sharp sudden motion, brought her arm down, releasing the weapon at the optimum moment. The metal blade sailed swiftly towards the tree and imbedded itself deeply into the wood, landing perfectly on the first target. Wasting no time, she quickly threw the remaining four, each hitting their mark.

Done, she stood silently waiting for his approval, although with her gifts she could probably already tell that he was clearly impressed. He stood deep in thought, his back ramrod straight, his arms stiff at his sides.

This child, this fascinating child that he had just happened to stumble across, was quite possibly worth more than the information he had originally came here to obtain. She was in possession of a powerful and probably unique kekkei genkai. She walked noiselessly without effort, being silent on gravel, more ghost-like than child like. She had perfect aim, and the strength to throw projectiles far distances. He had stumbled across a prodigy, and thank god he had found her before Iwa or Kusa had, or else the odds would have tipped away from Konoha's favor. As it was, she was young, and probably easily moldable to Konoha's ways. Danzo-sama would be extremely interested in this child.

"You're glad I did good!" she said happily, a bright grin slowly lighting up her face. Her expression was so happy, like no one had ever been glad when she had done something right before. In fact now that he thought about it, no one probably had.

"Yes." The Root agent said quietly.

She smiled up at him, "Say, what's your name?" she asked, "You're gonna lie, I know, but I'd like to know what you want me to call you."

He looked down at her, at her large and unusual trusting eyes that already knew he would lie but were fine with that. "… You may call me Fushidara." he said, taking conscious care to make his voice sound as less cold as possible.

She grinned, "Okay Fushidara-nii-san!" she said, clasping her hands behind her back. Her hair still remained brushed away from her face, and he could see her gaze wander to the kunai stuck in the tree, the longing clear in her eyes, "Um… Fushidara-nii-san, do you think… I could… keep those?" she asked nervously, pointing to the kunai.

He was Fushidara-nii-san. A big brother. Sure, it was only an expression, not like they were actually related by blood. But no one had ever called him that before. He had never had a brother or sister. The words flowed from his mouth like ink before he could stop them, "Actually, I believe I can do one step better," he said, "Keika-chan," he tested the honorific on his tongue before asking, "Are you happy here?"

Her gaze dropped to the ground, and then brushed to the doorway of the house where they knew her parents were. She shook her head sadly, "No." she admitted.

"Would you like to come back to Konoha with me?" he asked hastily, before he could keep the emotion out of his voice. Once he had asked her if she was happy, he had already known her next answer. In fact, he would not have asked had he not already known what she was going to say.

Her face lit up with joy, and she practically jumped up and down, "Oh yes oh yes! I would love to go back to Konoha with you Fushidara-nii-san!" she ran up to him and grabbed his leg briefly for a hug before letting go upon seeing the awkwardness in his expression. She looked up at him with big bright eyes, "Am I going to be a ninja? Am I going to have my very own knife like yours? Are you going to train me?" she asked, all in a rush, her words stringing together.

He reached down and hesitantly grabbed her hand, "Yes, I believe you will be trained to be a ninja. Yes, that does include having your own kunai and shuriken. And… I do not know who will directly train you, and although I hope that maybe I will be able to, I know that you will be under the instruction of Danzo-sama, same as me." he answered.

She looked awestruck, "Is Danzo-sama a great ninja? He must be to have trained Fushidara-nii-san!"

Fushidara nodded, "Yes, Danzo-sama is a great and powerful ninja." Danzo-sama was, and he had single handedly created Root, as well as kept the Konoha government in line. Nothing official was ever said about his esteemed leader, only that he was one of the four members of the Council, but Danzo-sama was in charge of all the nasty, behind the scenes work that the Yondaime couldn't handle. Fushidara had nothing but respect for his leader, and although some of the regular ANBU may say bad things about him, Konoha would not be so powerful without Danzo-sama's help.

Still keeping his gentle, and surprisingly comforting, grip on her hand, he swiftly removed the kunai from the tree and pocketed them, before walking up to the house, Keika following him eagerly. He slid open the paper door, and motioned for Keika to follow him inside when she looked reluctant to enter. Kana was stirring something frying on a large black iron wok, her hands twitching on the wooden spoon. Daiki was still at the table, puffing on his pipe. Her father glanced up as the two of them entered, "Ah, you're back." he gave a welcoming nod to Fushidara, but made no indication that his daughter was in the room except for rudely saying, "Cover your eyes, you damn brat!"

Keika tottered up to the table and deposited the sticks of butter onto the solid wood, pointedly ignoring her father's command to cover her eyes. Kana glanced up from her cooking before swooping up the said items and placing them in the fridge. Fushidara turned to Daiki, "My apologies, but I will not be staying for dinner. A very urgent matter has come up, and I must return as fast as I can." he said, giving a slight indication of his head to Keika.

This insinuation was either ignored or not noticed by her family, and Daiki asked, "Oh really? That's too bad then. Kana was going to make the local delicacy, beef and-" he was about to go on a tangent, judging from the look in his eyes, but he happened to glance down at Keika, "God girl, have you no brains!? I said, cover your damn eyes!" he yelled, his tone sharper, shorter, and promising violence.

"No." she muttered, glaring at him with her kekkai genkai. Daiki's breath stopped in his throat and he recoiled, shifting away from her in fear before he even knew the reason. Fushidara had seen many Uchiha use their Sharingan as an intimidation tactic, but her kekkei genkai took it to a whole new level. "I won't." she said, her voice almost demanding, and yet furiously defiant, "Fushidara-nii-san likes my eyes."

Daiki's eyes flickered up to Fushidara, who nodded once. "The urgent business I spoke of is Keika-chan," he said, leaving the '-chan' on to purposely agitate her parents, although he didn't know why he did it, "I believe that Keika-chan has significant potential to be discovered if she embarks on the career path of a shinobi, and I am taking her back to Konoha with me." Daiki opened his mouth, looking like he was about to protest, but Fushidara continued in his calm calculating tone, "You have no say in this matter. You are no longer in charge of Keika-chan, and both of you have proven yourselves to be unworthy of raising a child. You overlooked her potential, and saw only a freak of nature. You did not see her powerful kekkei genkai, the one Konoha will now be using as its weapon. If you make an attempt to prevent me from taking Keika-chan back with me, then I am sure that Iwagakure and Kusagakure will be very pleased to know exactly who sold them out to Konoha. It is simple, you let Keika-chan come back with me, and no one need ever know that you sold out your nation."

Both parents looked stunned, Kana having dropped her wooden spoon to the floor with a loud clatter, her hands twitching too much to retrieve it. Daiki's pipe hung from his bottom lip, all attempts at smoking forgotten. Finally, Daiki muttered and gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "Go on, take the thing if you want her so bad."

Fushidara gave an inward smile, before he glanced down at Keika, "Do you have any personal belongings you wish to take with you?" he asked. She shook her head, her face grinning.

And then, the two of them left the house, headed on a course for Konoha. As they left, Keika said it best, "Wow Fushidara-nii-san, you really scared the heck out of him, huh?"


	2. Welcome to Root

**Improbability**

**2**

**Welcome to Root**

* * *

Keika grasped Fushidara-nii-san's hand for dear life, afraid that if she let go, some of the scary looking ninja that were everywhere would attack her. She would just glare at them, like she had at her father, but Fushidara-nii-san had made her cover her eyes on their journey to Konoha. He had said that if people like him, ninja, had seen her eyes, then they might try to kill her or take her away from him. Keika knew that he thought that this was a valid concern, but seeing as though no one else but him had ever _not_ hated her eyes before, she thought it was rather silly. Besides, they had traveled by forest mostly, but all the other ninja that were hiding in the forest – she didn't know why they didn't just come out into the open, she knew they were there anyways – hadn't bothered with them, even though Fushidara-nii-san still looked like a Konoha ninja. He insisted that he did something to disguise the both of them, but like the henge, it hadn't worked. Something that he called genjutsu. It seemed rather pointless to her.

They traveled all through the night, Keika sleeping as Fushidara-nii-san carried her on his shoulder. The next day, they had continued at the same relentless pace, stopping very briefly at an inn to eat a small meal. By the time they neared Konoha, it was growing dark and the sun had just set. When they had got closer to Konoha, Fushidara-nii-san hadn't headed towards where she knew many people were. They had instead skirted around the village and away, towards a side entrance tucked inconspicuously into the woods. They had entered a small wooden building that had looked like a bunch of other patrol stations that she had seen on the way, except this one didn't open normally. There was something written on the door, Fushidara-nii-san had said it was a seal that only opened to Root members – Root was apparently different from Konoha proper, a part of it that only the most talented ninja went to –, but Keika had thought that it was pretty easy to read. This one read something along the lines of 'access, deny, partner seal, Root, electrocution, closed.' It made little to no sense to her, and when she asked Fushidara, he said that it didn't show words at all. Was Keika's reading bad? She didn't really _read_ it, per say, but she knew that that was what the pattern of strange squiggles said.

Fushidara-nii-san had opened the door easily, although she hadn't been able to. He said that if she passed the entrance exam – again she didn't know what that meant – that she would be able to open the door as well. The inside of the small building was dusty, and smelled rusty, but the unusual element was the floor. Where there should have been dirt of wooden beams, there was a hole in the ground that sloped down to reveal an old stone staircase. There were more of those seals along the sides of the entrance to the stairs, but these one read slightly different from the one on the door.

She had held onto Fushidara-nii-san's hand as they walked down the staircase. It continued to slope downwards, until she was no longer able to see the entrance, and instead had to rely on the meager light provided by the torches that burned along the wall. The tall stone encased around them on all sides, and despite not being claustrophobic, Keika had a strange desire to suddenly run away.

Once they broke free from the stairs, they arrived in a much larger hallway made of the same dark stone. They soon turned around a corner, and Keika realized that they were heading in the direction away from Konoha. At the end of the hall, Keika had to suppress a gasp. They were standing on a walkway in the center of a huge open area. The space was circular, and even though she glanced over the side, the bottom was a very far ways down, and the other sides were a very far ways off. Other walkways criss-crossed the area, and thin balconies ran around the walls at every floor. Multiple doors and hallways lead to off from the area, each in the same uniform stone that seemed to be the only thing in this base. Here, there were more people, a few dressed in the same armor as Fushidara-nii-san were walking across the walkway below her. Two more ninja were fighting furiously at the very bottom of the area, one shooting arrows made of fire from his mouth, the other reaching into the ground and pulling up walls of earth to defend with. Keika noticed that all the people here seemed suppressed, their emotions more dull and muted than anything she had ever seen in her home town of Kawagishi. In a slightly scary way, their controlled emotions reminded her of Fushidara-nii-san.

He had hurried her across the walkway, and the two had left the large area, Keika glancing over her shoulder to see the two men that were fighting stop – the fire user had been badly hobbled by one of the spears of earth. They walked to a set of large, and slightly ornate, double doors. Fushidara-nii-san hadn't knocked, but a voice called out 'enter' from inside anyways. Keika gasped onto his hand, but he pried his fingers out of her grip as he gently pushed the door open, his nervousness only showing to Keika's eyes.

As soon as he entered, he bowed deeply, and Keika hurriedly followed in a perfect imitation. When she straightened up, she immediately glanced around the room. It was an office of sorts, with no ornamentation on the walls, save the same stone as the rest of the place. A long desk stood opposite the door, the thick wood filled with drawers in every possible place that a drawer could be while still maintaining order. Files piled on top of the wood, and there was a single brush and ink well standing next to a single ceramic bottle of sake with a bowl next to it. But the most curious thing in the entire office was the man walking up to Keika and Fushidara-nii-san with a displeased scowl on his face.

He wore a white kimono with a black shroud that covered his right arm, bearing a resemblance to a sling. In his left hand, he held a wooden cane that he didn't use for walking. Bandages were wrapped around his head and coved his right eye entirely, and he had an ugly x-shaped scar on his chin. He had short brown hair and his one showing plain brown eye was looking down at Keika with distaste. "Junichi, you completed the mission, I assume. What is this child doing here, and why did you see fit to bring it?" he asked with a sneer.

Fushidara-nii-san – or was it Junichi? Keika preferred Fushidara – bowed again, before retrieving the scrolls from his weapon pouch. He presented them to the man, who picked them up with a bored expression on his face, yet his eyes showed to Keika that he was eager to open them and read the information within them. "Yes, the mission is complete, Danzo-sama." Fushidara-nii-san said, he then gave the slightest tilt of his head to gesture to Keika, "And this is Okugi Keika. She is the daughter of our informants that I visited. I believe that she would be a very valuable asset to Konoha with a bit of training."

Keika gave the old man another glance before dropping her gaze respectfully to the ground. That was Danzo-sama? She had expected someone younger and kinder, not this stuffy and rude and disrespectful old man before her. However, he had exceeded her expectations on one aspect. He was far more powerful than she had guessed. Just standing there, he radiated power and mercilessness. "A valuable asset?" he asked, skeptical.

Fushidara-nii-san nodded, "She is a prodigy. And…" he glanced down at Keika with a reassuring look in his eyes, "Keika-san, would you show us your eyes?" he asked.

She nodded nervously, worried about what would happen if Danzo-sama didn't like her eyes. Would he kill her? Throw her out of Konoha and away from Fushidara-nii-san? Would he send her back to her parents? She slowly pushed her messy blond hair out of her eyes, looking up at them with what she hoped to be an approvable expression on her face. As soon as her eyes were visible, she could immediately tell that her concerns were completely unnecessary. Although Danzo-sama's face did not change, she could tell by the way his eyes lit up that he was smiling a sneaky little smile. Something about her eyes made him happy for himself. Why was that? She couldn't tell, the emotion was too clouded, though unlike the emotions of the other ninja here, his were not dulled, simply hard to read.

"I see." Danzo-sama said, his voice no longer sarcastic or skeptical, "Have you ever seen this doujutsu before?" he asked, leaning almost unnoticeably closer to Keika to get a better look at her eyes. He was so… curious, but in a way that sent goose-bumps down Keika's spine. He scrutinized her the way a fanatical collector would examine the newest addition to his horde, looking for any imperfections in a beautiful and rare piece. She swallowed the knot in her throat and tried to stare at him like she had her father. No matter how deep she looked, she didn't see anything that helped with the shivers that made her skin stand on end.

Fushidara-nii-san shook his head once, "No. I believe that this doujutsu is unique. I questioned her about its abilities. Her eyes see the emotions of others, and are able to tell lies from truth. She can also see through henge and my concealment genjutsu as if it had no effect on her at all." he explained, his voice slightly proud.

Keika found it odd to hear him tell about her eyes like they were so powerful or amazing. To her, they had only ever been a source of pain, and it amazed her to think that there might be people – lots of people – out there that appreciated and respected her eyes. Danzo-sama's eyes held that greedy gleam, like he wanted her eyes for himself. "I see. Does this child have any other special talents?" he asked, still observing her like she wasn't a person.

"Very good aim, accuracy, stealth, and strength for a child of four years old. She also has many of the natural instincts that most shinobi have to work hard to obtain. I can also already see a talent with thrown weapons that could be developed as well." Fushidara-nii-san commented. He described her as if she was not there, and although she knew that he meant no rudeness, she found it hard not to be offended.

Danzo-sama nodded slowly and leaned back away from Keika, "Good work, Junichi. Take her to one of the spare rooms in section B and make sure that she understands the rules that she will have to follow here. Have her study under Hitomi. And make sure that she comes to sealing room A first thing tomorrow evening." he instructed in a bored tone of voice, although again, his eyes showed otherwise.

"Yes, Danzo-sama." Fushidara-nii-san said gratefully, bowing deeply with his hands stiff against his sides. Keika bowed as well, "Thank you, Danzo-sama." she said, trying to sound as humble and polite as she could. He was a great shinobi after all, and Fushidara-nii-san obviously respected him deeply. Maybe if she was respectful and polite to him, then he would be nicer.

He turned around and walked slowly back to his desk, like he had all the time in the world. Fushidara-nii-san quickly walked out the door, Keika following him closely behind. As soon as they were out and the door shut behind them, Fushidara-nii-san took her hand again. They walked in silence back to the main circular area, where Keika noticed that the fire user and the earth user were fighting again on the very bottom of the huge cylinder.

Fushidara-nii-san looked down at her and explained in a very quiet voice, "There are five main sections to the base. Danzo-sama's office is back there, and the few other offices are off of the Disk." he pointed behind them to Danzo-sama's office, and then gestured to a very small number of doors that sat at random intervals along the edge of the cylinder.

"The Disk?" Keika asked, titling her head up to give him a curious stare. "This circular area," he explained, and then continued without missing a beat, "The Disk is where all the sections of the base intersect. Besides Danzo-sama's office, behind us is section A. That's the indoor training grounds. There are twenty floors to the base, and each floor has different training rooms. There are floors with rooms with supplies for sealing, taijutsu, projectile weapon dummies… etcetera," he pointed to the right of them where a stone staircase lead upwards, "Over there is section E. That leads to the outside training grounds, but they are no longer in use because of the war. Right next to section E is section D. That is storage. All the weapons and medical supplies and scrolls and uniforms are kept there," he pointed in front of them and then moved his hand to the left, "Sections C and B. Both are living quarters."

Keika looked across the Disk, puzzled, "What's the difference between the two?" she asked. They looked the same from the outside, so she didn't understand what made the two different. Fushidara-nii-san gave a barely noticeable shrug, "I do not know. I sleep in section C, so perhaps it is age." he took her hand and they walked across the thin outcropping of stone that was the balcony that ran all along each floor of the Disk, "Anyways," he continued, "Danzo-sama said to give you a room in section B, so we probably will not meet very often," at her saddened face, he said, "But I will try to see you as often as I am able. You will be trained under Hitomi. Konoha proper divides their genin ninja into teams of three to study under a jonin. Here, you will be Hitomi's only pupil. She will be responsible for what missions you undertake, your training schedule, and whatever else she feels that you need instruction on."

They arrived in front of another corridor, but Fushidara-nii-san lead her down a long and steep set of stairs. Her tiny child's legs had a hard time managing the large steps, and she had to jump down most of the way. Fushidara-nii-san continued in his same soft barely audible voice, "While here, you must not speak out of turn. Speak only when spoken to. Never talk back to Danzo-sama. His word is law. Call me Junichi-san, not Fushidara-nii-san. And remember," he looked at her with such a serious look in his eyes that spoke of a deep warning, "Remember that your emotions are a weakness. Do not let anything show. Understand?"

"Understood, Junichi-san." Keika said, trying to keep her slight fear and confusion out of her voice. That was the one rule that unnerved her the most. Was that why all the people that she had seen here, save Danzo-sama, had seemed so dull and muted? Why that why Fushidara-nii-san did not smile or laugh or cry or even talk like a normal person? Would that happen to her? Would her emotions become bleached? At least she could pretend that she wasn't feeling. Keika could see people's emotions, and that gave her a good understanding of how people's faces and eyes and bodies reacted when they felt. She could easily fake not feeling.

And maybe, if she tried hard enough and for long enough, she could get Fushidara-nii-san to learn to fake not feeling as well. Then maybe her big-brother-by-chance could learn to feel again like normal people did.

The stairs went down many more floors, all the way to the bottom of the Disk, but Fushidara-nii-san stopped her at the third floor from the bottom and led her off onto a large hallway. Hanging from a dented metal peg was a clipboard with a bunch of papers tightly clipped to it in a uniformed stack. Fushidara-nii-san flipped through the papers, "The rooms fill up in order, two to a room. You will be with another member around your age. Room B-3-14. The bathroom and showers are at the back of the main hall. Your roommate will know where you can acquire meals." he instructed, letting the clipboard fall back against the wall.

There was no, 'can you remember that' or 'are you okay with sharing a room'. That wasn't how Root worked. Here, you kept up. There was no 'or else', or any other option. You kept up. Simple as that. Keika nodded anyways, before she dared to ask, "Why is your name Junichi?"

"Danzo-sama assigned me that name. Fushidara is the name that my birth parents assigned to me." he said, noncommittally, not seeming to care that Danzo-sama had given him a new name. "When you perform missions," he continued, "you will be allowed to use the name 'Keika'. Inside Root, and on all official records, Danzo-sama will assign you a new name."

"Oh." Keika muttered in quiet conformation. Fushidara-nii-san reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a long and shiny object, made of silver, that was very thin and with pointed edges. "Here," he said, "This is a senbon. Use it to pull back your hair. Here, your eyes mark you as an elite, not as a disgrace." He reached behind her head and pulled her mat of hair away from her face, tying the messy blond locks into a bun, and then securing it with the senbon.

Her face felt oddly uncomfortable and exposed without her hair to cover her face and eyes. The outside air brushed her cheeks and forehead without hindrance from sandy blond strands. But she liked it, like with it she was giving herself a new identity, becoming something better than just Keika from Kawagishi, Keika the daughter of Kana and Daiki, Keika the town freak. She could be Keika of Root, Keika the powerful ninja, Keika with the fearsome eyes. She resisted the urge to curve her lips into a smile, heading Fushidara-nii-san's order, and instead gave a polite bow, "Thank you very much." she said.

His eyes smiled slightly in his muted way, and he gave a tiny bow in return, "You are welcome. I will see you later, Keika-san." he said, turning around and heading back to the vast chasm of the Disk. She stared at his retreating back until it vanished down the stairs and she could no longer see the comfortable reminder of her big brother.

The one pleasant reminder of any sort of family that she had gone, she composed her face as best she could and turned around to walk down the hallway that lead to section B. The tall stone walls were the same as the rest of the base towered high above her. With her unfortunate short stature, she had to crane her neck to read the faint and uniform numbers that were embossed in metal on the occasional banged-up wooden doors. The hallway occasionally split into three, and having no signs or any other method to direct herself, Keika just continued straight forward. At least that way she wouldn't get lost if she had to go back to find her room.

Keika's feet, and her inner debate, both halted when she came to a door marked with that same dull metal that read, 'B-3-14'. Her room. She reached up to grasp the rusty doorknob, and opened the slightly damp and rooting smelling door, the hinges not creaking and instead opening smoothly. The room was tiny and almost completely bare, the walls and floor made of stone. Two small and rickety beds were pushed against two of the walls. Against the third wall was a tiny and dented mirror that reflected a somewhat murky version of the room. Under the mirror sat a short chest of drawers made of the same rotting wood as the door, and containing only two small drawers.

There was another occupant in the room as well. A small boy, probably about eight years old, was sleeping in the bed to her right. Even asleep, he lay stiff, his arms at his sides and his legs in a straight uniform line. His pitch black hair hung in a short, sooty mess, some of the longer strands fluttering over his mouth as he breathed. Keika only found it slightly awkward to realize that she would be sharing a room with a boy for god knows how long. His breath seemed to hitch in his chest when Keika entered the room, but then his breathing calmed and he slept on.

Keika climbed into the bed on the opposite wall from the door, and gently laid her head on the lumpy pillow. The entire base was cold, and the blanket was not the thickest she had ever seen, but at least she wouldn't have to force herself awake in the morning. Reaching behind her head, she pulled the senbon out of her hair and curled her tiny fist around the weapon as she hugged it to her chest. She curled up into the tiniest ball that she could, and slowly closed her eyes.

Everything was going to be different from now on. No more Kana and no more Daiki. Rare visits from Fushidara-nii-san. An instructor that she had never met. A roommate. And being a member of Root and Konoha.

* * *

A young woman, about nineteen years old, boldly pushed open the door to Danzo-sama's office. Most Root ninja would have knocked first, or waited to be summoned, but she was rather gutsy for an emotionless ninja. And she was in a bad mood, or at least, as bad a mood as an emotionless ninja could get.

She stepped inside the door and gave a polite bow to Danzo-sama. He stood from behind his desk, his one visible eye clearly annoyed with her. His cane tapped threateningly on the cold stone floor as he took a few steps closer to her, "Hitomi. How good of you to arrive so quickly." he said, his voice snide and sarcastic. His left hand curled tightly around his cane, his fingers driving into the wood.

Hitomi glanced behind him, her eyes landing on his desk. There were two thick open scrolls lying there, both looking rather worn and beat up, as well as a map that showed Kusa, Iwa, Ame, and Suna. The map was dotted with faded pencil marks, as well as circles and lines freshly made by Danzo-sama's neat hand. Information about the war, it had to be. The war had gone on for a very long time, too long. Too many dead. Too many people that she knew, gone. She cleared her throat and returned her eyes to Danzo-sama, "Well it was not like I was on the other side of Hi no Kuni," she retorted with a small amount of sarcasm, "What do you require of me, Danzo-sama?" she asked, her tone now far more polite. He was her superior after all.

"Do you see the papers on my desk?" he asked, gesturing slightly with his head to the scrolls and map. It _was_ information on the war. It had to be.

Hitomi was a strange member of Root. She was Danzo-sama's left hand man – if she were a man and if such a position existed. She would not say that he trusted her, she didn't think that he trusted anyone. But he did tell her far more information than he told anyone else, with the exception of the strange ninja that was his bodyguard occasionally. But she knew quite a lot, enough to bring Root to its knees if she was able to tell anyone else. She suspected that was the real reason that Danzo-sama told anyone anything at all. Because he knew that no member of Root could repeat his words if he did not want them to. So Hitomi was allowed to be slightly more rebellious of the system, slightly more angry, slightly more sarcastic, if only so that in return it balanced out her slightly more sad tendencies. She was fighting the system by wearily wearing it down with heavy blanket of sadness.

She gave a small nod, and the threateningly twinkle in Danzo-sama's eye grew. "Four days ago, I received word from a civilian couple," he began, weaving his words into a story like a master, "Normally I would ignore such a thing, but they lived near Iwagakure's main camp. They had been spying on Kusa and Iwa for ages, years perhaps," his mouth seemed to quirk up just a tiny little bit, almost unnoticeably so, "I sent my fastest available ninja over at once to retrieve the information. It came at such an opportune time, too."

Hitomi knew what he meant by that, "Yondaime-sama is out of the village with his team to destroy Kannabi bridge, is he not? And Sandaime-sama has been working with the Kazekage on working out a treaty, has he not?" she said, her questions more like statements, for she already knew the answers.

Danzo-sama nodded, the glint back in his eye, "So the task fell on me to follow up this lead, which of course I did without hesitation. I acquired a rather interesting map of where the Iwa demolition corps are stationed, as well as the most recent shinobi roster for Iwagakure. Those… I will keep. However," he strode over to his desk and picked up the second scroll, "This is far too important to keep," his face flickered into a frown – he hated giving away information, "Battle plans from Iwa and Kusa. They are planning to attack Konoha in two weeks. Full force. They plan on this attack winning the war."

Hitomi let a surprised gasp flicker through her façade, "But Iwa would never attack Konoha proper! Not the main village at least," she composed her features and bowed to Danzo-sama, "Forgive my outburst. But I was under the impression that Iwagakure was too frightened of the Kyuubi to attack the village itself."

Danzo-sama's face hardened, "As was I. It seems that loosing has made the Tsuchikage grow desperate. That however, does not matter. What _does_ matter is that in two weeks, Iwagakure's forces will be attacking the main village. We need to be prepared. The full force of Kusa and Iwa may just be enough to bring Konoha to its knees." he handed the scroll to Hitori, who took it like it was a sacred item, "I want you to deliver that to the Sandaime. Do not mention who you received it from."

"Understood, Danzo-sama." Hitomi said seriously with a bow. She turned, about to leave the room, when Danzo-sama held up a hand to stop her. Confused, she looked back over her shoulder.

"That is not the only reason I summoned you here today." he said, seeming to be very satisfied with himself, "I was not finished." Hitomi nodded and turned back to face him as he continued to speak, "When my ninja returned with the information, he returned with something that is perhaps more valuable. A child. I wish for you to be her sensei."

Hitomi floundered like a fish out of water for a moment, before she burst out with, "But Danzo-sama, you know I do not teach. Why would you have me teach some child?"

Danzo-sama ignored her outburst, "You will teach Okugi Keika. I have been informed that she has a talent with thrown weapons. That is good for a small child, develop that. I want you to train her as thoroughly as you can for two weeks. Then I want her on the battlefield."

* * *

Keika jerked herself back into consciousness when she heard the quiet blare of a siren. Her blurry world that comprised of grey pillow and a tiny sliver of equally grey stone was very slowly becoming clearer, her sleepy eyes trying to awaken. She reached her hands up to her face, intent on rubbing her eyes and then finding out exactly why her dusty blue pillow had turned grey and why Kana had woke her up so early when normally her mother didn't even speak to her unless she had a chore to do- and then almost poked her eye out with the senbon clutched in her fist.

Carefully placing the dangerous weapon back down, she fully opened her eye to room B-3-14 of the Root base. She now guessed that the quiet siren that she had heard had been a sort of wake-up call, and that made far more sense than her mother taking the trouble to wake her. The boy that was her new roommate stood in front of the mirror and dresser, methodically yanking a tiny comb through his short dark hair. As soon as Keika shakily sat up in bed, he placed the comb down and turned to face her.

"Hello," he said politely, giving a tiny inclination of his head that she assumed she was supposed to interpret as a bow, "You must be my new roommate. My name is Mitsuo. It is a pleasure to meet you." he extended a hand to Keika, who stood and walked over to him, reaching uneasily to shake his hand. He spoke blankly, like all ninja save Danzo-sama, but he was very sad, so very sad and Keika couldn't see why.

She placed her tiny child's hand in his larger one – he must have been about eight years old – and squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a comforting way. He dropped her hand, and she gave a much deeper bow, "I'm Kei-" she cut herself off, realizing that Danzo-sama had yet to assign her a name, "… Danzo-sama has not yet given me my name as I only came last night, but my old name was Keika. Please, call me that if you want." she said, hoping to sound as polite and refined as he did.

Mitsuo gave a short, brief nod, "Understood. I will refer to you as Keika-san." Keika didn't let the smile that she felt in her head flicker onto her face, even for a second. If he was willing to call her Keika, and not whatever Root name that she would later be assigned, then maybe she could try and save his feelings, like she swore to do for Fushidara-nii-san. She glanced up at his unusually large white eyes and stepped over to the dresser and mirror.

The sharp senbon in her hand reminded her of the fact that her hair was still covering her face, and of Fushidara-nii-san's warning from last night. "Can I use your comb?" she asked, again trying to maintain politeness.

"It is not mine, but you may. The bottom drawer is yours," he replied, pointing a finger at the chest of drawers, "A set of clothes will have arrived for you during the night." He had the dignity to turn around at this last statement, suddenly becoming very interested in a spot on the opposite wall. Root members didn't seem like the type to care about modesty, and to ninja, nakedness was probably not that big a deal. But even with that less pleasant thought in mind, it was good to know that he understood how new to this whole thing she was.

Keika pulled out the bottom drawer and saw two sets of the same pair of clothing. Dusty off-black shorts and plain grey short sleeve shirt. She hurriedly pulled off her old, dirty, and second hand cloths that she had been wearing for the past two days. The new clothes fit all right, and the fabric was very sturdy and comfortable. There was a pair of shoes in the back of the drawer that she put on as well. They weren't like the old wooden clogs that she had worn sometimes back home. These were the kind of shoes that she had only ever seen ninja wear; open-toed black things with flexible soles that were made for running and fighting.

Resisting the urge to glance in the mirror and telling herself that how she looked wasn't important, she grabbed the comb up from the dresser. Her hair resisted being brushed, and she didn't have much patience for the task anyways, so she only yanked it through her hair once or twice before quitting. She took the senbon that Fushidara-nii-san had given her, and with one hand pulled her hair back into a bun, and with the other, secured the knot of hair into place with the sharp metal weapon. "All right, Mitsuo-san. I am dressed." she said, feeling that it was only right to inform him that he could now turn around.

He turned around from his intense gaze at the wall, and immediately was startled. _Visibly_ startled. Not just in his eyes, it showed on his whole face. Considering the nature of all the ninja that Keika had seen, that really said something about just how surprised he was. The way his eyebrows raised in disbelief and his eyes widened all spoke strongly of surprise, but it was his whole body posture that spoke of shock.

Feeling particularly snarky at that moment, Keika indulged in a rather sarcastic side of herself. She grinned a tiny little smirk and asked, "Like my eyes?" What she really enjoyed was seeing the tiny tick of annoyance flash in his expression as he tried to get his face back to its usual emotionless blank slate. She had a small moment of 'ah! I got you!' that made her feel, for the first time in almost ever, like the four year old that she really was.

"I am- I mean, I have never seen- Your eyes-" Mitsuo stuttered, still trying to purge his shocked expression from his features.

Living in the moment, Keika took a tiny step forward, staring him down like she had her father. It felt good to stare down this boy who was four years her senior, "You're confused," she began, searching his face for the emotions that revealed themselves effortlessly to her eyes, "and you don't understand it at all. You've never seen something like my eyes, and you're even a little bit scared of them, although you will never mention such a thing," and then she looked deeper, his thoughts and emotions so plain across his face that she could read them like words, "you think 'How's she doing this?' and 'Is she reading my mind?' The truth is, I might be reading your mind and I might not be. That all depends on what you're really thinking. You're surprised, and you're confused, but you're also smart. Smart enough to guess what my eyes can do, and also, deep down at the moment perhaps, smart enough to know that you are eight and twice my size and no matter what creepy powers my eyes have, that's still an undeniable advantage."

He sputtered incoherently for a moment or two, letting Keika glower in her moment of victory. Victory was a funny thing, it ran through her veins like sugar, energizing her, pumping her full of confidence. Victory could also lead to arrogance and overconfidence and the assurance that more victory was on the way. In this particular case, it led to being punched in the gut by her angry roommate.

She grunted and felt like crying as she doubled up in pain around his fist. Her eyes felt hot and wet and itchy, but not like how she normally cried, more like his punch had forced the tears out. This was one of those very rare moments when she wished that she knew some good swear words. "Yeah, I 'eserved that." she wheezed, clutching her gut and forgetting to speak politely, letting her childish mispronunciations drop back into her speech. That happened when she didn't watch what she was saying.

"Yes. Yes you did." Mitsuo said, his voice sounding much more confided now that he had planted his fist in her gut, "I did not hit you particularly hard; after all you need to get in a good first impression when you meet your instructor."

Keika gasped and wheezed for another moment or two before straightening up and asking, "Why… do I need… to make a good first impression… when I meet my sensei?" she asked between gasps. She gently rubbed her stomach because that was what she used to do when she got hit in the gut, and it did always seem to work. Maybe that wouldn't work with ninjas.

Mitsuo opened the door of their room and motioned for her to follow him, "We shall go down to have breakfast, and then I suppose you will be introduced to your sensei," his eyes darkened as he gave her a serious look, one full of caution and warning and fear, "If your sensei does not think you are good enough, then Danzo-sama will think you are useless. There are no useless people in Root."


	3. First Day

**Improbability**

**3**

**First Day**

* * *

Keika followed Mitsuo like a shadow as they walked to what he called 'the canteen'. It was where they ate breakfast and sometimes dinner, he said. It was another room in section B of the base – although they did have to go up two floors to reach it –, apparently the people who lived in section C ate in their own canteen as well. Keika was rather disappointed by that, as it meant one less chance to see Fushidara-nii-san. Maybe when she got stronger, then she and Fushidara-nii-san could go on a mission together or something. That was what ninja did right? Go on missions?

The canteen was like the rest of the rooms that Keika had seen, dark, damp, and made of stone. Unlike the rest of the rooms that she had seen, the canteen was large and open, with wooden benches and tables in uniform lines in the center of the room. To the far left side was a metal cart that contained plates of some sort of food. There was also a sink, and a stack of paper cups. Mitsuo walked up to the cart and grabbed a plate of… mush. It looked a bit like oatmeal, but smelled nothing like it. It was just brown mush. Hopping that it tasted better than it looked, Keika grabbed a plate as well and took a cup of tepid water from the sink.

She sat down at one of the benches, again, sitting near Mitsuo. They didn't talk to each other, just ate in silence. Keika didn't mind not talking right now though. She was too busy looking. There were already a few people in the room, sitting and eating. She couldn't see anyone over the age of ten really, although one kid might have been barely eleven. There were only about a half dozen or so kids in the room, but Keika knew that there had to be more in Root, so she assumed that the others were out on missions or something. Most were about in the six to nine age range, although there was one kid who was about four, like her. And there was one more thing about the kids who were here. Keika wasn't thinking about the way that they didn't sit together, but how they all looked… strange. There was an older boy that was deathly pale, his skin almost blue, and his eyes were literally like ice. There was a tiny little girl, her feet clutched to her body like a ball, and she had red triangular markings right under her eyes, and a tiny puppy huddled in her hair. Even Mitsuo's large white eyes couldn't be quite… natural.

And they didn't just look strange. Keika didn't know the words for it, but their _presences_ felt different. A tall boy felt sort of metallic, like his soul was made of lead. A thin girl with flaming red hair seemed like she was made of lava on the inside. The kids here were all strange, and Keika was talking about strange even going by ninja standards. Somehow, she got the feeling that they were all… a bit like her in a way. They were people who didn't quite fit into a civilian society, but were revered in a ninja one. Although, and her face fell at this, from the looks she was getting from the kids she had seen here, they didn't really accept her eyes either.

But besides the strange looks that she was receiving, and the odd appearances of the other kids, there was one thing that did more than just unnerve Keika. They were all sad. Oh, their emotions were still muted in the way that all the ninja's were. But they were all so sad and lonely and cold and the tiny girl with the dog _wanted to go home_ and the boy with spiky dark hair _didn't want to die_ and the tall boy with green eyes and glasses _felt like his heart was going to burst from loneliness._ Keika didn't want to look. She wanted to shut her eyes. She wanted to run up to the girl with the dog and tell her that her home was bound to be close by and that she would go home soon and that she could treat her beloved dog like her home for now. She wanted to give a little bit of her food to the boy with spiky dark hair and tell him that he wasn't going to die, that he shouldn't be afraid, that he should train a bit harder and that way no one could kill him. She wanted to hug the boy with green eyes and glasses and tell him that it was all right, that he wasn't alone in the world, and that she was there for him, so he could stop crying in his mind.

She wanted to do all those things, and more. But she couldn't. She stopped herself from moving, she held herself back. Her hands gripped the edges of the table, forcibly keeping her anchored there, reminding her not to go and comfort them, no matter how much she wanted to. With her eyes, she felt like she was feeling everything they were, like she was suffering the same as them, like she missed her home and family more than anything in the world, like she was terrified of death and dying, and like she was so alone that she wanted to cry. She had to control her eyes. She couldn't comfort them. All because Fushidara-nii-san had given her a very strict order not to let her emotions show. And she knew that Fushidara-nii-san had had his reasons for telling her that, and she had seen the warning in his eyes when he spoke to her.

So she couldn't help them. But it didn't mean that she didn't want to with all her heart. So she tried her hardest to ignore them like how they were trying their hardest to ignore their pain, and she ate her breakfast. The brown mush tasted like… well, how someone would expect brown mush to taste. It just tasted like brown mush. But she knew it was filling, so although it wasn't delicious, she ate it down gratefully. She had eaten much worse things before, after all, and this was some sort of ninja food, so it had to be good for her. Yes Keika, focus on the food. Take your mind of the others.

Were all ninja like this? Emotionally suppressed? Was it always the rule to not show feelings? And if it was, would she end up like that as well?

"Keika?" a voice called from the entrance to the room.

Someone was looking for her? Was it Hitomi, the person that she was supposed to study under? The voice was definitely feminine, and it had this serious tone to it. This was a person that you did not argue with, someone who put their foot down, someone who had more fire than normally seen in Root agents.

So when Keika turned around to look at the woman in the doorway, she had been expecting someone confident, self-assured, the kind of person that walked with a spring in their step and a satisfied smile on their lips.

And her expectations fell flat. The tall woman was about nineteen or twenty, and had short black hair that was brushed to the right and then held back with a silver hair clip. She had blue eyes and pale skin, and dressed in the same fashion as Fushidara-nii-san, right down to the sword on her back. Her lips were pursed in a tired and annoyed manner, like she had been up all night and wasn't in the mood to deal with any sort of nonsense. She stood a bit more confident than most, and her emotions were slightly less dull than most ninja Keika had seen, and the curve of her brow said she was full of fire.

But all of that, was a lie. Her eyes said it all, they said the truth. They said she was tired, and sad, and so very, very alone. They said that she had seen far too many people that she was close to die, and that she was tired of it and wanted to be left in peace, and that she was afraid to get to know anyone else because they would die just the same, and they also said that just a little part of her wanted to die as well.

And at the moment, Keika felt nothing in her heart for her besides pure _pity_. She wanted to hug this mysterious woman around the waist and tell her that it was okay to cry, that she wouldn't tell anyone if she were to cry, and that she wasn't alone.

But again, Keika didn't. Instead she stood up, pushed her chair in, and walked over to the woman standing in the doorway. She gave a respectful bow and said, "I am Keika. It is a pleasure to meet you. I assume that you are my sensei, Hitomi-san?"

The woman gave a short, sharp nod, "Yes I am." She leaned in a little closer to Keika, getting a good look at her, and Keika could feel her sad eyes boring in her strange ones. Hitomi-sensei leaned back and sighed, "Well, that explains why Danzo-sama was so adamant about me teaching you," she scoffed, "Me. Teaching. What will the world come to next?"She glanced down at Keika, "Well, you might as well follow me."

With that, Hitomi-sensei turned around and walked out of the canteen at a remarkably fast past. Keika almost had to jog to be able to keep up with her on her pitifully short legs. Hitomi-sensei walked down the main hallway on section B with her back straight and her shoulders tensed. The three kids that they passed on the way scattered out of her path before she could yell 'move it!'. The two walked out of section B, and Hitomi-sensei slowed her pace a tad as they headed around the walkway that lined this floor of the Disk. Keika kept a look out for any sign of Fushidara-nii-san, her eyes scanning as far as she could see. She kept a particularly close watch on the doors that lead to section C, knowing that was where he said he stayed. Unlike last night, there weren't any ninja fighting on the bottom floor. Instead, a man was directing groups of ninja as they removed tall crates from section D and placed them on the bottom floor.

Keika removed her eyes from the scene below, and looked up at her new sensei to ask, "Um, Hitomi-sensei? May I ask-?" her question was cut off in her throat as her new sensei answered, seeming to already know her question.

"We are going to section A. I would take you to section E, but because of the damn war, all outside areas are closed off. Apparently, you have got talent in thrown weapons. That is one of the reasons why I was assigned to teach you. I specialize in thrown weapons." Hitomi-sensei said, her voice a little bit proud of her accomplishments.

She led Keika up two flights of stairs towards section A. With Hitomi-sensei's fast stride, and the fact that the stairs were so large, Keika had to jump and run as best she could, and even then she barely managed to keep up. Once they arrived at wherever it was that her sensei wanted to take them, Hitomi-sensei led her off through a large hallway. There were few doors here, and many smaller hallways that branched out from the main one. The ceilings here were higher as well, and as she walked, Keika felt much smaller than she actually was.

Hitomi-sensei turned left, down a much smaller hallway. This part of the base seemed to be a bit more inhabited, and there were a few people that walked down the halls as well, and even more people were probably training behind the doors. They passed two doors on the right before turning down another hallway. Hitomi-sensei navigated the corridors with ease, while Keika struggled to count doors and remember turns. This place was like a maze to her, and there didn't seem to be quite as much logic to it as the rest of the base. Where the halls in section B had been laid out far more orderly, this part looked like it was expanded when needed and rooms were added where there was space. But even though it far less organized, the whole place still maintained a neatness and order to it that was seen throughout the entire base.

Finally, Hitomi-sensei came to a sudden halt in front of a tall door at the end of a corridor. She pushed the door open and strode inside, Keika following her. As soon as the door shut behind them, Hitomi-sensei slid a tiny knob on the door handle. The tiny panel of white that sat above the handle changed to black. "Right. Follow me." she said, her voice sharp and attaining more of its commanding tone.

Keika looked around the room, her eyes soaking in the details like a wet sponge. The room had a high ceiling, and was very, very large. At the far end stood a row of training dummies that were just waiting to be impaled. To the left of the door, racks upon racks upon racks of throwing weapons stood, gleaming from recent polishing. Hitomi-sensei walked to a long table that stood near the door, facing the training dummies. From a pouch clipped to the back of her belt, she pulled out a small, thin scroll.

Hurrying to join her at the table, Keika watched as Hitori-sensei unrolled the scroll. It was covered with strange designs. Part of Keika could tell that they looked like squiggles, but part of her read what it said. The scroll read 'summoning' 'object' 'release' '1/3 filled'. Hitomi-sensei held her hand up for a moment, before placing it down in the center of the scroll. With a puff of smoke, two objects appeared. The first was a black weapon pouch made of a softer sort of fabric that's durability resembled that of leather. The second was a holster and a strap to tie it to something. Without asking for conformation, Hitomi-sensei grabbed a roll of bandages from her pouch and wrapped up Keika's right thigh in the off-white fabric. Then she tied the holster to her thigh as well, before clipping the weapon pouch on to a small clip at the back of Keika's pants.

"There." Hitomi-sensei said, pointing a thin finger to the holster, "Those are yours now. I expect you to wear them at all times. Even keep weapons on you when you sleep." She rolled up the summoning scroll and placed it in her pouch again for safekeeping.

Clearing her throat, Hitomi-sensei firmly placed both her hands on the table, "Now listen up, and listen good. Normal Konoha shinobi have to go through years of training at the academy to learn the barest of basics, and even then they are only barely field-ready. I have been tasked to get you above genin standards in two weeks. As such, I will not go over the basics in boring detail. I will not expect you to learn to plot kunai trajectories or break codes. That will come later, if I teach it at all. Instead, I will give you one lecture, only one, on the basics that you need to know. That, I will expect you to memorize and learn, because your life will depend on it. Now tell me, what do you know about chakra?" she demanded.

Her fast paced and sudden briefing had left Keika's mind a little bit confused. But, knowing that there was a lecture coming up that she had to memorize, she collected her thoughts and offered, "You use chakra to perform Henge?" It came out sounding like a question, but she did know this after having asked Fushidara-nii-san on the way to Konoha exactly what he had done.

Hitomi-sensei rolled her eyes to the ceiling, "Yes, you do," she sighed, gathered her breath, and began, "Chakra is comprised of both physical energy and mental energy. You increase chakra by training both your mind, and your body. Chakra is the energy that shinobi use to perform jutsu, or techniques. That is the basics. Now listen, because this next bit is very important. Because shinobi have far more chakra than civilians, we can utilize that energy and use it to perform jutsu. Chakra is the extra energy that we no longer need to keep our bodies functioning. But once you have run out of that 'extra' and still need to fight, there are more… desperate measures. You can draw chakra from your muscles. First you pull energy from your skeletal muscles. You tire quickly. That is 'chakra debt'. And that is also when you must _stop_. If you continue to pull energy from your muscles, the next to go will be your minor organs. Kidney and liver failure, then your lungs will struggle. Then your heart. Blood flow will cease. You will die." Hitomi-sensei paused in her lecture to give Keika a hard stare, the kind that pierced, "Chakra exhaustion is more common than people like to think, especially on the battle field. That is why there is a strict rule to stop at chakra debt. Only go farther if the mission completely depends on it and your survival is no longer necessary."

Keika's mind was still whirling, trying to learn all these things at once. But a small part of her brain was remembering this, recording it, packaging it away into a tiny corner of her mind that remembered it all. "I understand sensei. I will not go past chakra debt unless the success of the mission completely depends on it," she recited, keeping her tone even and steady.

"Good." Hitomi-sensei said gruffly before she continued on her lecture, "Now I will explain a bit more about chakra. You can use chakra in its basic, pure form. That is change in chakra form. Most rudimentary jutsu are performed by simply channeling chakra around your body and solidifying it. You can also use what is called, change in chakra nature. That is using chakra to perform elemental jutsu, such as ones that utilize earth or fire based attacks. Most shinobi are born with at most two different chakra natures. To gain more chakra natures, extensive training is generally required," she paused and took a deep breath, glancing at Keika to make sure that she was getting it all, "Anyways, chakra is a shinobi's most basic weapon. Even if you have no more kunai or shuriken, you rely on your chakra. There are three branches of jutsu that most shinobi follow. The first is taijutsu. That means hand-to-hand combat. Using your fists, feet, and your body as your weapon. When using taijutsu, especially as a child, you must learn to enhance your strength by channeling chakra to your limbs. The second if ninjutsu. This is the category that all elemental jutsu tend to fall into. Ninjutsu tends to rely much more heavily on chakra than taijutsu does. The third is genjutsu. Genjutsu relies on casting illusions in battle and using them to confuse, injure, and in some cases can end in the death of an enemy."

At sensei's pause in the long speech, Keika took the time to repeat a bit of what she had just learned to show that she was keeping up, "So change in chakra form uses pure chakra, whereas change in chakra nature transforms your chakra for use in elemental attacks. Taijutsu is physical combat, ninjutsu is chakra techniques, and genjutsu is illusions." she said, trying to list anything that she thought was important.

Hitomi-sensei nodded, "That is the basics, yes. Today, I will teach you the basics of thrown weapons, and taijutsu. I will teach you basic chakra control tomorrow, so do not focus on that for today." With that said, she walked over to the large racks of weapons and retrieved a large leather scroll. When she placed the object on the table, it made a heavy 'thud' noise.

She unrolled the scroll, revealing copious amounts of weapons secured in place with straps. Long thin senbon, heavy kunai, shuriken so large that they had to be unfolded before use. "Today we will focus on the basics." Hitomi-sensei pointed to the standard kunai and shuriken, "A ninja's bread and butter. The kunai, good for close combat fighting as well as long range. Note, the wide circle at the base of the handle, which is designed so that you can attach explosive tags and such with ease. And the shuriken. Good for throwing at any distance. Also when you attach wire to multiple shuriken it makes for a very unpleasant trap."

She handed to kunai to Keika, and adjusted her small hands to compensate for the wider handle. Hitomi-sensei pointed to a dummy at the far end of the room, a figure dressed in simple mesh armor and a green vest. The head, neck, kidney, knees, thighs, and heart were marked with dabs of red, "See the red?" she asked, "Those are your kill points. Hit him in the right eye."

The weapons felt too large in her hands, and Keika knew that the target was much farther away than the tree that Fushidara-nii-san had her hit. But she had practice with these kind of kunai before, and it was really all a matter of wanting to hit it. Besides, if she missed, then they might think she was useless. And there were no useless people in Root. The table at her back, the dummy in front, Keika exhaled deeply and focused her eye on the target. She raised her arm and swung it down sharply, remembering to release the kunai at just the right point. The metal sliced through the air, imbedding itself into the dummy's right eye.

Feeling a burst of happiness run through her, Keika looked up to see if she had impressed Hitomi-sensei. Her teacher just huffed and made no comment, but Keika could see in her eyes that she was a bit surprised. Excellent. That was as good as a victory to her.

"Now get him in the throat." Her teacher said coldly. Hitomi-sensei picked up the shuriken this time, handing it to Keika. She skillfully maneuvered Keika's childish fingers to fit better on the cold metal. Holding shuriken was much different than holding a kunai, and from the looks of the weapon, Keika would have to throw it with a horizontal movement, instead of a vertical one like she did for the kunai. She gripped the metal tightly and wrapped her right arm around her body, before flicking the weapon out from her hand like throwing a frisbee. The shuriken _whizzed_ more than it _swished_, again differentiating from the kunai. But it hit the target all the same, cutting up the red fabric of the throat before coming to a stop.

Hitomi-sensei gave a sophisticated sort of snort with her nose turned up, radiating unhappy approval, "Decent," she commented, then her eyes glistened with a bit of mischief. She leaned down over the roll of weapons and began to rake her eyes over them. After a minute of contemplation, she retrieved a large shuriken with eight menacing spikes, easily just as large as Keika's entire body. She held out the weapon, "Go for the heart," she commanded, gesturing with her head to the already-killed dummy.

Keika reached up and tentatively grasped the huge weapon, struggling to hold it with one hand only. She placed her tiny hand through the center ring and tightly grasped the blunted edge. She felt her arm wobble when she raised it over her head, and before she could let go and give in to the logical part of her mind telling her that the huge shuriken was far too large for her, she swung it diagonally at the dummy, using whatever strength there was in her arm. To her surprise, the shuriken's path in the air curved before one of its large and menacing spikes landed right in the heart of the training dummy.

"I thought so." Hitomi-sensei said smugly, "The No. 7 Fuma shuriken is perfect for your smaller stature. See how it relies on rotation more than physical force? That weapon was designed for children and young genin to use with proficiency. The path of the weapon also can be manipulated into an arc form, allowing the user to take down multiple opponents in one swing." Her eyes grinned, a bit sadistically perhaps, in a way that gave Keika a sudden desire to run for it. Hitomi-sensei picked up two more pouches filled with kunai and shuriken and passed them to Keika, "And now that you have the basics down, we can move on to the combat training," her teacher said.

She pointed a finger to a large X on the middle of the training floor. Reluctantly, Keika hurried over and planted her feet on the inked mark. Hitomi-sensei flipped a switch on the wall. From the floor, a thick ring around Keika opened up, the stone floor moving out of the way. Over twenty training dummies connected to a wooden ring formed a large circle around Keika. All the dummies wore different armor, some like the previous dummy that she had worked with, but some were dressed like Hitomi-sensei and had barely any red marks indicating weakness.

"See the wooden ring that connects the training dummies?" Hitomi-sensei asked, her voice echoing around the room, "That will rotate faster and faster. Every kunai you throw must hit a kill point. There is a senbon launcher inside each dummy. If you miss, it will activate and the weapon will be aimed for your heart. If you go more than one minute without hitting the same dummy, then it will activate. Senbon don't kill, but these will be dipped in a nasty poison that knocks you out painfully for a few minutes."

That was rather… elegant, in a way. If you didn't kill your opponent, then they would kill you. It was the same on a battle field as it was in training. Keika nodded firmly and pulled out a handful of kunai from one of the extra pouches that Hitomi-sensei had given her. After an agonizing second of waiting, the ring of training dummies started to spin, faster than Keika had originally thought they would.

She took a deep breath, and began throwing weapons as fast as she could.

Throwing, turn around, throw. Things were moving so fast there was no time to check to make sure that her weapon had hit the mark. She just had to keep throwing. Her right hand would throw, and her left would retrieve more from her pouch. The sound of metal whizzing through the air would always be followed with a thunk of it hitting its target.

After a few minutes of this, Keika's arms began to tire. But she couldn't stop throwing. It became like a daze. She wasn't focused on any of it, and yet, at the same time, every part of her mind was acting on overdrive, concentrating on the dummies, the patches of red, the way her feet moved on the floor, Hitomi-sensei who stood by and watched with naught but curiosity on her face. She knew that the dummy with the green vest and kunai in its kidney and throat was right behind her and she knew that the one dressed as Himori-sensei with the kunai in the eyes was to her left, and at the same time she was throwing a blade at the one wearing mesh armor in front of her.

Then there was a whizzing that didn't come from a kunai that Keika had thrown. She heard the whiz and that wasn't right because her kunai was still in her hand. Senbon! She had gone too long without hitting a dummy! She heard the direction that the whiz noise came from and ducked, knowing that the weapon would be aimed for her head. Still ducked, she pivoted her feet to face, not where the dummy was right now, but where the dummy would be moving to, and threw the kunai still in her grip.

As she straightened up, she heard the satisfying thunk that meant her kunai had hit. She gripped kunai in both hands now, throwing with her right and her left.

This was harder, for now she had to focus on throwing two different weapons at once. But she couldn't pause, couldn't take a break, couldn't stop. She just kept throwing.

Three more times did the senbon shot at her. Three more times did she duck or dodge or avoid the weapon. Three times did she retaliate at once, throwing weapons at her inanimate attacker.

Her arms threw faster and faster, till she could feel her muscles burning and her mind tiring, diving deeper and deeper into that daze state of simultaneous hyper awareness and unconsciousness. Throw, throw, throw, that was the only thing that she could do. She kept telling herself, if only she could last it out until Hitomi-sensei was satisfied. But maybe, and the thought hit her hard, maybe Hitomi-sensei was waiting for her to get hit? What if Hitomi-sensei was expecting her to get hit? Well then, she wouldn't let Hitomi-sensei win!

And then she plunged her hand back into her weapon holster to find herself out of kunai. She had been throwing for ages, seeming like both an eternity and only a few seconds. The dummies were all covered with kunai. She could hardly see the red spots with all the metal imbedded in them. But she was out of weapons. What was she going to do!?

And then there was a whiz behind her, and she moved to the side to dodge out of habit. And to her immense horror, the senbon punctured the elbow of another dummy. An elbow that was not red. And then all hell broke loose. The dummy shot a senbon in retaliation which Keika dodged, which hit another dummy, which shot another senbon. And on it went until the air was thick with flying senbon and it was all Keika could do to avoid getting hit, and she just had to avoid by guessing and habit, and even a bit by instinct.

And then she felt pain in her right arm and she knew that she had been hit. She collapsed to the ground, her small hands trying to grasp at the needle and pull it out. Because it _hurt_. This wasn't the kind of scrapped knee pain, or broken bone pain. This was the kind of pain that she had only felt twice before.

This was the burning, aching, terrified feeling of being in pain down in the depths of her heart. This was how it felt on that horrible night one year ago. _She had been three. Kana had literally kicked her out of the house again. It had been dark, and Keika hadn't had any idea of what she was supposed to do. If she tried to get back in the house, Kana or, even worse, Daiki would strike her before throwing her out again. She had gone through the backs of the alleys in town, trying to find someplace warm to spend the night. Kana or Daiki would let her in the next morning after all the liquor had vanished from the house. From the inside of one of the houses, she had seen two couples arguing, nothing that made much sense, but arguing all the same. And she hadn't moved on, just sat there in the dark, huddled under the shelter of the wooden outcropping that covered the back door because it was so much better than standing back in the rain. She had sat there, enjoying the warmth that leaked out of the back door. And then the man came outside._

_He had been drunk, so drunk. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. She had heard his furious wife anger him. Everyone in town knew about Kana and Daiki's freak child. Everyone in town hated Kana and Daiki's freak child. Keika had seen the desire to hit someone in his eyes. But she, on her tiny three year-old legs, hadn't run fast enough. She had been hit, and she had tried to run. And then it got worse. A few friends of the man, all drunk arrived. They treated it like a game. Let's see who can land the most hits on the freak child. _

_And she had run as fast as she could, but heavy hands grabbed the back of her shirt, stopping her from running, trapping her. She had felt so very terrified and scared, fearing that each breath might be her last. And she had been hit, over and over, hoping that they would give up, hoping that they would think her dead and move on. And then they had left her, bleeding and broken and sobbing in some back alley that stank of trash and was rapidly flooding from the rain. And they had found it funny. They had found her pain funny. They had found beating her to an inch of her life and breaking her bones and calling her the most horrible things that they could think of funny. And she had felt the hatred that they had felt for her bubbling up inside her and threatening to consume her. And she had taken that hatred and turned it into a hate for them, for them all, for everyone that looked at her like a thing, like a monster, like a freak-_

Hitomi-sensei slapped her across the face. The blow was meant to be softened, but it was clear that her teacher really didn't know how to soften a blow, so the hit was harder than intended. Keika opened her eyes and found that they had been closed. She slowly sat up and found that she had been lying on the floor. Her limbs were stiff. There was a red lump on her arm where the senbon had hit her. Hitomi-sensei offered her a hand up, greatly appreciated.

As Keika rubbed the welt on her arm, Hitomi-sensei let out a low whistle, "Well, you lasted a decent amount of time, and did maintain some accuracy. I guess you really are the prodigy that Danzo-sama claims you are," she grudgingly admitted, her face set in a frown despite her cheerful words, "Your arm will heal quickly. Retrieve your weapons and we will begin again." she commanded.

Again? But Keika had been so scared the first time, and that was before she even got hit! And the pain, the pain when she was hurt, the way the poison targeted the fear in her, she couldn't get hit again, she couldn't, she wouldn't let herself get hurt because it hurt so much so she couldn't try again so that way she wouldn't get hurt again.

Her fear must have leaked through her mask and onto her face because Hitomi-sensei's mouth quirked down into a fearsome frown. "Fear is a weakness. You cannot be afraid of anything. Do not feel fear. Do not feel sadness. These emotions are what make you weak. Rid yourself of them, and you can become stronger."

The words escaped Keika's mouth faster than she could stop them, "But sensei, you do. You fear and you're really sad and scared and hurt and _lonely."_ Her words got lost in her head, because the same thing applied to her as much as it did to her teacher.

Hitomi-sensei was frozen in place, her face scared and confused and a bit panicked, "How do you know that?" she demanded in her cracked and terrified voice that was so so sad, "How can you possibly-?" she sighed and stared hard at Keika, "No. It is your eyes, is it not? Later, we should have a talk about your eyes and what exactly they can do." She seemed much more resigned outwardly, but inside, Keika could see that she was still shaken up, still scared.

Keika lowered her head and muttered, "Yes sensei." It seemed like the more people she told about her eyes, the worse it got. Fushidara-nii-san had liked her eyes, yes. And she couldn't say that Danzo-sama hadn't, because that wouldn't be true either. But the way that Danzo-sama liked her eyes, he liked them like they were now his, his weapon, his possession, his belongings.

But Keika would work on Danzo-sama later. At the moment, she walked over to the X on the ground and retrieved her weapons. Then she preformed the exercise again. And again. And again. And each time it only ended when she got hit. And each time hurt just the same as the last. But each time, she let go of a little bit of her fear.

And then after so many times, she wasn't afraid of it anymore.


	4. Lies

**Improbability **

**4**

**Lies**

* * *

After training relentlessly with the ring of dummies and her kunai, Hitomi-sensei led Keika to a different part of section A. There, she had ran about three hundred laps around a huge room, and done all sorts of other exercises, like sit-ups and push-ups. When she had finished, Keika's whole body was aching from exhaustion, having been tired to begin with and having never done this sort of thing before. But then Hitomi-sensei had made her stand back up and gave her a very brief lecture on the basics of taijutsu that was again, essential to remember. Then she had gone over a long set of moves and made Keika perform each one a hundred times. After that, Hitomi-sensei had sparred with Keika. Even though her teacher said that she had gone easy on her, and she hadn't been lying, Keika didn't think that her teacher really knew how to go easy on someone.

At the end of the day, bruised, bloody, and exhausted, Keika had wanted nothing more than to go to her tiny room and fall into a deep sleep. But Hitomi-sensei had grabbed her hand and dragged her somewhere entirely different instead.

Tired and sleepy, Keika barely registered the shouting coming from the bottom of the Disk. The loud noise couldn't compete with the sound of blood pounding in her ears. But Hitomi-sensei apparently did notice, and she looked down at the commotion with a pained grimace on her face and a gut-wrenching look in her eye. Looking away from the bottom floor, she just tugged harder on Keika's hand as the two hurried up the stairs. But the sad look in her eye didn't vanish even as she finally released Keika's hand. They had reached wherever it was that they had been headed.

By now, Keika knew better than to ask where they were going. By now, Keika knew where they were. She had been here before after all. But she did wonder why Hitomi-sensei had brought them to the same floor as Danzo-sama's office.

Instead of heading straight forward to the elegant wooden door however, Hitomi-sensei led Keika down a side corridor that winded to the left. Her teacher stopped in front of a thick wooden door, the kind that looked like it was sound proofed. Keika's no longer groggy mind wondered why the door needed to be sound proofed, and why Hitomi-sensei had brought her here when she said that they were done with training for the evening. Was this the 'sealing room A' that Danzo-sama had mentioned to Fushidara-nii-san yesterday? If it was, then what was being sealed? They weren't going to mess with her eyes, were they? No, she didn't think that Fushidara-nii-san would have brought her here if they were going to mess with her eyes.

After a minute, Danzo-sama's voice came from inside, "Enter," he commanded. Hitomi-sensei opened the door and stepped inside, bowing respectfully, Keika following suit. The room was small, not large like the training halls. Danzo-sama was there, standing in front of an inkwell, a brush, and a solitary candle that burned with a tiny flame. Hitomi-sensei shirked to the side, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Fire in her or not, everyone was second when Danzo-sama was in the room.

"Sit." Danzo-sama told Keika, his voice heavy. Keika nervously walked towards him and sat down on the freezing cold stone floor, her eyes removing their gaze from Danzo-sama and instead towards the pot of ink and the brush.

Danzo-sama sat as well, which surprised Keika. He glanced over her eyes again, with that horrible look like they belonged to him. She resisted the urge to recoil and run, and instead stared him down with as much courage as she could muster.

"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue," Danzo-sama commanded, his strange order taking Keika by surprise. Reluctantly, she complied, feeling very strange at sticking her tongue out at Danzo-sama. He grabbed her chin and pushed at her cheekbones, forcing her mouth to remain open. Then he bit his thumb so hard that his finger bleed. He let a few drops of blood drip from his finger into the bottle of ink, before he picked up that brush and stirred the red into the black.

Keika was scared now, she could feel fear running through her, removing her tiredness, triggering her flight-or-fight responses and urging her to run away. She had to get out of here, she had to find Fushidara-nii-san, he would know what to do, he wouldn't let Danzo-sama do whatever it was that he was going to do to her. Ninja or not, she knew that if something involved blood, it couldn't be pleasant. She'd had plenty of experience to figure that much out.

Danzo-sama swirled the brush through the ink until the bristles were soaked with that nasty black liquid. Then he picked up the brush and placed it on Keika's tongue. Immediately she started to squirm in Danzo-sama's firm grip. Something was wrong. This wasn't ordinary ink. Ordinary ink wouldn't burn her tongue and make her mouth feel like it was on fire. And something else was happening, she couldn't quite see because it was hard to look down at her tongue, but it reminded her of what she had seen on her way here. What had Fushidara-nii-san called it? Seals?

The brush made a strange pattern of swirls and lines on her tongue, each one burning its way into permanency. Each drop of ink burned like fire. After what seemed like an eternity of flame, Danzo-sama finally placed down the brush.

He removed his hand from her face, but before she could spit the ink out of her mouth, he held up his hands in the same way that Fushidara-nii-san had. There was a flare or energy and the marking on her tongue burned white-hot, etching its presence forever on her body. Keika could feel the flames following the same spiral that the ink made, burning and coursing their way across her tongue. Then the fire moved upwards to her throat and then burning its way into her head. She could feel parts of her mind being cut off, but not just from her, from others as well. Words that she couldn't speak, thoughts she couldn't think, emotions she couldn't feel.

It hurt so much, like her head was on fire as well. Now that Danzo-sama had let go of her face, she could scream or run or cry or claw at her skin or try and rub off the ink. But she didn't. It wasn't just Fushidara-nii-san's warning that kept her from doing anything, in fact, with this much pain she doubted that she would have remembered what he told her anyways. She simply didn't feel the need to do any of those things. Yes, she acknowledged that it hurt, and she knew that she was in pain. She just did not find it necessary to express that pain.

This new revelation terrified the part of her that could still be terrified, but the rest of her mind took the news with calm indifference. It was good that she could not feel pain or fear. That way she would not have that weakness in a battle. Besides, why was pain or fear necessary to begin with? It was only a liability after all, and now that those troublesome things were gone, her mind felt clearer, calmer, and more rational. It would do no good to scream. Screaming would accomplish nothing but making her throat raw and sore, and in a battle, screaming would alert the enemy to her presence.

Danzo-sama dropped his hands and stood up, "The process is complete. Stand up," Keika stood. There was no reason to disobey. Danzo-sama's eyes smiled that sneaky little smile as he said, "Your name is Kamiko. You are now an official member of Root." He gave a nod to Hitomi-sensei, who bowed to Danzo-sama before opening the door.

Kamiko bowed deeply to Danzo-sama, showing her respect, before she followed Hitomi-sensei out of the door. As they walked down the corridor, Hitomi-sensei glanced down at her, her eyes strangely resentful and painfully sad. But she was sorry, not for herself, but for Kamiko. Why was she said for her? Like she could not bear to look at her any longer, Hitomi-sensei removed her gaze from Kamiko and stared straight ahead.

"You will meet me tomorrow in room A-4-27 at 5:30 a.m. precisely," she commanded, before adding helpfully, "The wake-up call is at 5. I assume that you can keep time from then on." She sounded more detached than usual, like she had given up. Why had she given up? And what had she given up on? Did it have anything to do with Kamiko?

Kamiko gave a brief nod, "I understand, sensei." With a sad little wave, Hitomi-sensei turned around and headed towards a different section of the Disk. Her teacher seemed to be heading towards section E, but Kamiko knew that section E was out of bounds. But Hitomi-sensei was walking slowly, her attention instead focused on the bottom of the Disk, having only eyes for the commotion. Kamiko glanced down as well, now that she was awake enough to understand. Tall and open crates of medical supplies – bandages, ointment, antibiotic pills – filled up the corners of the circular area. Thin pallets had been rolled out to form rows of make-shift beds. Many ninja, all dressed in the same Root outfit as Hitomi-sensei lay wounded there, none crying out, many sedated, while a few doctors yelled orders and instructions to each other as they hurriedly cared for the injured. The people down there were in pain, so much pain that it tore at Kamiko's heart and made her feel like she was bleeding as well. She turned her eyes away. Hitomi-sensei did not. Instead, her teacher remained standing, a silent observer from on high, just watching the chaos, and hurting all the same.

With a shake of her head as if the physical movement could shake away the images of pain, Kamiko turned around and headed towards section B.

As her feet padded silently against the stone floor, she wondered why she did not feel so tired anymore. No, she did feel tired, but she knew that there was no point in feeling tired. She would get sleep when she was able to, and feeling the exhaustion when there was nothing to be done about it was pointless. She did not feel particularly happy about this new revelation, but then again, she did not feel particularly _anything_ now. It was like looking at the world through fogged-up glass.

When she arrived in front of her room, she slowly opened the door to see Mitsuo on his way out. She gave a slight inclination of her head out of respect, before she side-stepped around him and headed inside. He returned her nod of greeting, looked her up and down, and said calmly, "I am leaving on a mission, and will be gone for a few days. If there is something you wish to ask me, please do so now. By the way, what is your name now?"

Kamiko shook her head, "I do not require anything, but I thank you for your concern. And my new name is…" for some unexplainable reason, she found herself hesitating before continuing, "Kamiko. My name is Kamiko."

Mitsuo nodded and left the room, shutting the door silently behind him. But Kamiko remained frozen, staring at the now shut door. She could not move, could not breathe, could not do anything. "Ka..mi…ko…?" she struggled to say, like the words were made of fire and would burn her mouth if she dared to speak them, "My name is… Ka…mi…ko…" She gasped, her eyes wide and her body shaking like a leaf.

LIE!

That was a lie!

She was lying! She knew it, she could hear it in her own voice! She could hear the falseness of those words and she knew that it wasn't true! She always could tell the lies from the truth, she always could, that was what her eyes could do, and she knew that was a lie! That wasn't true, it wasn't! Her name was not Kamiko, it was Keika! She knew because that was what Fushidara-nii-san called her!

Keika rushed over to the mirror, stumbling over her own two feet. She stared at her own reflection in the glass. Her eyes. They were like the rest of the ninja here. Her emotions were dull, muted, bleached from her own mind and body leaving only enough to function. They were locked away in a corner of her mind by whatever it was that Danzo-sama had done to her! And her eyes were sad and pained and lonely and-

The logical part of her mind did not care, did not notice even. The logical part of her, and the larger part of her mind, did not care. If she was sad, that did not matter. What did it matter if she was sad? Sad would not get the job done. But the tiny part of her that was still _her_, the bit sealed away in a cage in the smallest corner of her mind, was screaming in fear and panic. How could she ignore this!? This was her, not feeling, not caring! This was what she wanted to save Fushidara-nii-san from, and now she had succumbed to the same thing?! Coward! And she could _see _this, s_ee_ her mind and her thoughts and emotions tearing away at each other and as she watched, unable to tear away, it _hurt. _It hurt like no physical pain could. And then she could see her pain and that made her hurt more, and more, and more, and over and over, into a cycle of pain and hurt and sadness that wasn't going to end until part of her won. This was her fight, damn it, and she was going to win!

She wanted to look away. She wanted to tear her eyes away from the mirror. But she didn't. She had to see this. She had to _fix_ this.

She stuck out her tongue. The flesh was marked with neat black lines, forming a complicated patterns of swirls, lines, dashes, and so many other symbols. Keika could see all that. But she could also see words. The list of words was long and complicated, but she could read all of them. 'Words' 'block' 'emotions' 'mind' 'pain' 'fear' 'Shimura Danzo' 'user' 'blood' 'speech' 'forbidden', the list went on.

Keika kneeled down, her eyes level with the chest of drawers. She yanked hers open and riffled through the corners like a thief through a vault. Her fingers ran all the way across the back, but she didn't find what she was looking for. Again, she slammed the drawer shut and pulled open Mitsuo's. This was technically thieving, but she didn't care. She tugged at his neatly folded clothes and shoved them to the side, finally finding what she was looking for. A small pad of paper and a pen sat in the corner of Mitsuo's drawer. She didn't question why he had them, she didn't even care, she simply grabbed hold of them and stood up, facing the mirror.

Flipping the pad of paper open, she noticed that they were full of sketches, houses, people, objects that she couldn't name. She skipped past all those, not even stopping to take notice, and stopped at the first blank page she came across. Gripping the pen so tightly in her small hand that it might have broken, she yanked off the cap and placed the pen on the white paper. With furious, hurried strokes, she recreated the symbol that she had seen on her tongue.

When she was done, she removed her hand from the paper, showing the strange seal in all its glory as she stared at it with her eyes. With her parents not caring enough to teach her, Keika had had to learn to write and to read on her own. She knew the kanji and the grammar, but this, this was a whole new type of alphabet. She could see how the center swirl of ink alluded to power, and at the same time made the seal less stable. She could see how the triangles on the edge stabilized the array, and how the kanji created specific instructions for more detailed sealing. But mainly, looking at the seal was like looking at two layers. There was the visible part, the bit that showed the lines and the circles and the swirls of ink. That bit showed what kind of seal she was looking at, and gave a rough description of what it did. But then there was a second part, the bit that was the 'truth' of the seal, what it really did. This was the part that converted clearly into words, the part that Keika could read more easily.

She narrowed her eyes. This was also the part that she could change. If she changed the 'truth', or the second layer, then what the seal array did would be completely different. She flipped over the page and drew the seal again. To an outsider, the symbol on the page would have looked exactly the same. To Keika, she saw the difference. The second seal was different. It was a cancelation seal, re-writing the effects of the first and making them null and void. A dummy seal that did more than just impersonate. It was all a matter of intention, what you wanted the seal to do and what you didn't want it to do. Keika didn't know what she was doing. Had she the time and resources to speak to a proper fuinjutsu user, they would immediately discourage her from doing what she was about to attempt. But Keika didn't know not to. She didn't know any better and was far too desperate to listen to caution and reason.

She bit her thumb like Danzo-sama, no, like _Danzo_ had, letting the blood drip onto the wooden surface. Picking up the brush again, she dipped it in the blood. Then she stuck out her tongue and drew.

Brush stroke after brush stroke, the ink on her tongue like ice instead of fire. She held the different thoughts in her mind, what differences she wanted, keeping the second layer clear in her head. She could feel something changing, like an energy in her body was being called upon and directed to her mouth. She ignored that. That wasn't important. She had to focus on the second layer, because that was the most important part of the technique.

The design complete, Keika's shaking hands dropped her brush. Whatever energy that had been used was draining fast. And it was still draining. It was like it didn't know that she was done, that the seal was finished. Her breathing grew heavy and she began to pant. What was going wrong?! She glanced up into the mirror and knew. Her eyes were still muted. She could see symbols coursing through the air and swirling around her tongue. The design was still incomplete. What had Danzo done?

Keika held up her hands into the same symbol that she had seen him do. Her eyes identified this as 'tiger'. Tiger meant many things. It could mean 'fire' or 'ending' or 'finished' or 'burn'. Her eyes saw all this in a second. At the same time, they saw how 'tiger' finished up the seal and made it complete, wrapping all the loose-ended meanings and words and half-visible symbols together in a perfect, finished circle.

The cage in her mind that held her thoughts and emotions and words at bay was broken, the bars breaking under the weight of Keika's will. The ice in her mouth seemed to melt, removing the pain and the fire from earlier. Tired and sweating, gasping for breath, Keika glanced up into the mirror. Her eyes were no longer dulled. The foggy glass that had covered her was clear, and she could see her thoughts with such clarity that it made her wonder how on earth the other members of Root did not see this, see how amazing this was, because everything was so beautifully clear and visible and-

Still with that elated, relieved smile on her face, Keika's eyes fluttered closed as she collapsed onto the floor and passed out.

* * *

Hitomi was livid. It never showed on her face of course, she had plenty enough of emotional control to make sure of that fact. But anger and impatience radiated off of her in boiling waves as she furiously stormed down the huge, winding staircase. A large man, muscular and many years older than her skirted out of her sight like a frightened rabbit. No one crossed Hitomi when she was angry. Only Danzo-sama, and those with a death wish dared to stand in her way when she was mad.

But that foolish, asinine, lazy, forgetful, know-it-all, stupid, _aggravating _little girl that just happened to have a blasted doujutsu had dared to tempt her temper. Hitomi had said 5:30. She had very clearly stated so. She had even – helpfully, which was very unlike her – included that the wake-up siren was at 5. It was ten past 6.

She had waited as long as she could manage. She had begun to pace around the room after ten minutes, thinking of all the reasonable and rational excuses that she could bear to grant the child. It was a large place after all, and the child was only on her second day here. Hitomi considered her getting lost for a few minutes. But she had so very clearly stated the exact room number of their meeting place. Perhaps there had been some sort of side effect of the sealing, leaving the child tired and sluggish. But damn it, even for sluggishness this was far too late. She could have not heard the wake-up siren? Ridiculous. That bell was so loud, there was no way _not_ to hear it. There could have been a commotion that stalled her. Even more ludicrous an idea.

Any list of grudgingly given excuses had vanished from her mind at 6 o'clock. The brat was _late_ and there were no excuses!

Fortunately, she had remember what floor the girl had vanished to last night, so there was no need to check every single floor in section B, and thus spared her temper even more aggravation. She stormed onto the third floor and immediately made a bee-line for the clipboard that hung from the wall. Flipping through the pages so fast that they might had been ripped out, she finally came to the name, 'Okugi Keika', which a different hand had crossed out and wrote 'Kamiko'. The hand writing of the new name was the same as that which wrote the name of her roommate, Hyuuga Mitsuo. One of her eyebrows raised at that. A Hyuuga, huh? Danzo-sama must have had a sick sense of humor with that pairing. Throw a new doujutsu kid amongst other doujutsu users and see which one her eyes match more closely.

Leaving the clipboard swinging on its peg, she stormed off down the hallway towards room B-3-14. Once she found that girl, she was going to slap her awake and then beat the crap out of her during training. And then, just to douse her temper, she would beat the crap out of her _without_ the excuse of training.

She would make sure to avoid her eyes of course. Best to stick within Danzo-sama's rules, even if she was pissed off.

But she imagined punching her in the eyes. The surprised and shocked expression, the blood that ran from the eye sockets, and the mirror-like irises that have a swirl for a pupil-

Hitomi paused mid-step, her foot still in the air, her eyes slightly wider than normal. Because she didn't want to punch _Keika_ in the eyes. In her imagination the girl's silvery eyes bleed into the red and black that Hitomi knew so well, her blond hair turned black, and the shocked expression changed into one with narrow eyes and a laugh of scorn. Hitomi's steps resumed as she continued down the hall. She was the one in Root. She was the one who had ascended through the ranks faster than her clan thought possible. She was the one whom Danzo-sama trusted like he trusted no other. She was the one who had won. _Who's laughing now, mommy dearest?_

She suddenly stopped and turned, opening the door and slamming it against the wall. She was ready to yell at Keika, to punch her, beat the crap out of her, make her train harder than what was possible just to make up for it.

And all her silly, _idiotic_ ideas flew right out of her mind as she saw Keika collapsed on the floor of the room. Hitomi rushed to her side and dropped to the ground, her head rushing as she thought, as she begged, _don't be dead, oh please oh please don't be dead._ Pulse was steady. The child wasn't dead. So then what was wrong with her? Hitomi held up her hands, now faintly glowing with chakra, and pressed her palms to the child's chest. A faint scan of her chakra system revealed the obvious. Chakra exhaustion. Nothing deeply serious, but enough to knock her out for a while. But how on earth did she get chakra exhaustion?

Hitomi's icy blue eyes raked their way across Keika's fallen form. The way she had fallen, she must have been facing the mirror. Why the mirror? It made sense for the child to have wanted to examine the new seal on her tongue, but looking at a seal did not lead to chakra exhaustion. There was clearly another force at work… or was there?

She glanced at the notebook, the blood stains on the wood, and the hurriedly tossed aside pen, her mind leaping to conclusions. She took another glance at the notebook, her eyes immediately drank in the shape of the seals drawn there. The swirls and lines were the same in both drawings, but differences had been marked in a hurried hand. The differences… Hitomi's hand flew to the notebook, reading every tiny detail. Her eyes widened and the notebook fell from her hands as she slowly turned her head around to face the fallen child.

The foolish, asinine, lazy, forgetful, know-it-all, stupid, aggravatinglittle girl that just happened to have a blasted doujutsu. And she had just done the unthinkable.

She felt her heart stop once before beginning to beat again at a much faster pace. Was it possible? The child was no master of fuinjutsu, but maybe… Hitomi was praying for the best. She was hoping beyond belief that this child had done what she thought she had. Because maybe… just maybe… if she had then it might mean that there was someone out there who could understand her. And after so, so long of being so, so alone, that idea was like the most precious gift to her. Someone who too had been ostracized by family because of her eyes. And she still damned Danzo-sama for his choice in her name. Mocking her every time he spoke her name.

So she did something that, before now, she had never considered doing. She gathered her chakra and pushed it into Keika's system. As techniques went, this one was brutally elementary, and barely being more than a simple trick. But it worked, giving Keika's body the necessary boost that it needed to emerge from its state of hibernation. As she worked, she allowed herself to be a little impressed at how much chakra the four-year old had. But then there was no time to ponder, because Keika's eyes slowly fluttered open, like she had forgotten how to wake up.

"Wha'…? I…?" she struggled to talk, and it looked as though she struggled to think as well. Her eyes were still blurry and tired, and she was clearly having trouble focusing. Then her eyes were suddenly clear, as if something in her clicked. She bolted upright and clambered her way up to the mirror, gazing at her reflection with a look of searching. Then, having found whatever it was that she had been looking for, she breathed a sigh of deep relief and relaxed.

Hitomi allowed a tiny ghost of a smile to worm its way onto her face, "Quite a talent. I do not know of anyone who could pull off such a complicated fuinjutsu at your age." It was a tricky little comment, something that could bolster the child's ego, but made from the desire to prod out a conversation and details, "You'll have to tell me how you did it."

"Fuinjutsu?" Keika asked, her voice so innocent and curious, "Oh, you mean the pretty pattern? I just wanted to draw what was on my tongue, is all," she nodded at the other images in the notebook, "I like drawing." Such a perfect set up, such excellent manipulation of words, such precise and pure curiosity that most wouldn't question. Everything about her body language, from the tilt of her head to her raised eyebrows, just helped to convey the image that she didn't know anything.

All ninja were skilled at reading the expressions of others. Hitomi was even better than most. And at the end of it all, Keika was still a child, and Hitomi had years of experience to back up every inch of her knowledge.

She smirked, "Impressive," she tossed the notebook at Keika who caught it without hesitation, "I almost would have believed you." she said, folding her arms in a way that conveyed the 'do not mess with me' look that she seemed to always wear.

Dropping pretenses, Keika thumbed through the notebook and asked, "What did I do wrong?" in the most casual of tones. They could have been discussing the weather if it weren't for the unmistakable tension in both of their limbs.

"Four reasons." Hitomi held up a finger, "Firstly, your kekkei genkai. It would not be impossible to assume that you created the fuinjutsu with the aid of your eyes, which I still do not know anything about by the way," she added as she held up a second finger, "Second, the drawings in the notebook are in a completely different style than the sketch of the seal. Probably they were made by your roommate," another finger went up, "Also you failed to clean up the blood, blood being a common conducting agent for fuinjutsu," she held up four fingers total, "And finally, when I woke you up, I noticed that your chakra system was drained. Clear signs of overuse from a jutsu."

Keika sighed, and although her face did not betray her fear, her grip on the notebook tightened somewhat, "Well damn. So what now?" she asked with a shrug, "Are you going to turn me in to Danzo-sama? Make me fix what I did? Seal my mouth up again?" She seemed not to care about her fate, but going by her worried questions, such a thing was so obviously untrue that it was almost comical to Hitomi.

"Now?" Hitomi asked, being dead serious, "Now I do not do anything. I do not turn you in to Danzo-sama. Now, we go to room A-4-27, where you should have met me at 5:30." She finished this with a pointed look at Keika that helped to emphasize her impatience.

Keika gaped at her for a moment, clearly struggling to believe her good luck. Then she promptly shut her mouth and followed Hitomi out of the room. Clearly, the child had realized exactly how a great a deal she was getting. And hopefully, Hitomi would get her desired end of the deal as well.


	5. Failures and Limitations

**Improbability**

**5**

**Failures and Limitations**

* * *

"Ninjutsu," Hitomi-sensei began, her face in rapt concentration, like what she was about to say is the most important thing there is, "To understand and use ninjutsu, you must first have a very good grasp of chakra. So before we begin on more complicated ninjutsu, you must first learn the basics. Starting with chakra control, or the ability to guide and direct chakra internally and externally." Hitomi-sensei led Keika to the large wooden post that was situated in the center of the room. At the top of the very tall log, there was a small metal bell, "One of the most basic chakra control exercises. You must climb to the top of the post and ring the bell, without using your hands."

Keika looked baffled. Climb the post without use of her hands? How would such a thing be accomplished? How did this involve chakra? At her confused look, Hitomi-sensei rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Standing in front of the post, she placed one foot on the wood, and then another, and then another, until she was walking vertically, her feet stuck to the post like magic.

After ringing the bell, Hitomi-sensei dropped down the floor, glancing at Keika with an expectant look in her eye. This was another test. Everything with Hitomi-sensei seemed to be some sort of test. Hitomi-sensei wasn't going to tell her how she did it, she was expecting her to figure it out on her own. Biting her lip and thinking about the information that Hitomi-sensei had given her, she looked up and said, "You directed chakra to the soles of your feet and used it to stick to the surface of the wood."

Hitomi-sensei gave a brief nod, her eyes the only part of her that were smiling, "Try it." she said, nodding her head towards the post. Keika swallowed, her throat feeling like a knot. How to do this? Chakra was energy, right? That was what Hitomi-sensei had said. Energy comprised of the mind and the body. Physical and mental. Was that the same energy that had been drained from her body when she used the seal last night? Chakra exhaustion, Hitomi-sensei had said.

She closed her eyes and focused, trying to direct energy to her feet. She could feel a tingling on the soles of her feet. She opened her eyes and stepped onto the wood. Her foot stuck. Directing the chakra was easy, she realized. It was all about will. Like directing an extra limb. You thought, and there the chakra was. Slowly, making sure that each step stuck, Keika walked all the way up to the top of the post, gaining confidence as she walked. After ringing the bell, and feeling perhaps a bit arrogant, she let go of the chakra in her feet, thinking to drop to the floor like Hitomi-sensei had.

For a minute, it seemed to work, for a proud moment, Keika felt herself falling through the air, her legs bent just like Hitomi-sensei had done. But she didn't know the second half of what Hitomi-sensei did. So when she hit the ground, she fell over and hit the ground with a painful thud, feeling her ankle throb.

Hitomi-sensei scoffed, a bit sadistically, "Acceptable, up until you forgot to use chakra to cushion your landing. Pride before fall Keika, learn that." She reached down, giving Keika a graciously accepted hand back up. After Keika took a breath and dusted herself off, Hitomi-sensei continued, "You seem to have chakra control down pretty well. In that case, I want to go over a few more basic chakra control techniques before I get down to ninjutsu."

True to her word, Hitomi-sensei pulled out a few interesting tasks for Keika. She would have called them 'boring' tasks, but anything involving chakra seemed like a miracle to her. The way it pushed its way around her body, warm, energizing, perhaps even a bit reminiscent of that one time Keika had drank coffee, revitalizing every part of her that it touched. Now that she knew what it was and what it could do, she gained an appreciation for the menial tasks of the exercises that Hitomi-sensei instructed her on.

She had to take multiple pieces of paper and use chakra to let them float a little ways above her skin. Hitomi-sensei made her practice with different objects at different heights, helping her to get a feel for the minute differences in chakra output. Then she was instructed to move chakra to her ears to help her hear better, and to her nose to increase her sense of smell. Apparently, at least according to Hitomi-sensei, there was a clan of ninja that always had chakra in their nose, so much so that it was impossible for them to direct it elsewhere. After that exercise, Hitomi-sensei just made her direct chakra around to various parts of her body, until she could move it from the top of her head to the soles of her feet in less than a second.

When this was done, Hitomi-sensei looked very pleased, both with herself and with Keika. "Now I want to start you on actual ninjutsu. Most children do not begin to learn these until around the age of seven, when the chakra coils have had longer to develop. However, not only do I not believe that this will be an issue with you, but also I have been instructed by Danzo-sama to teach you early. There are three basic ninjutsu techniques that every child learns, normally in the Academy. The Kawarimi, or substitution, the Bunshin, or clone, and the Henge, or transformation," Hitomi-sensei pulled out a kunai, "We will begin with kawarimi."

Keika blanched as she glanced at the kunai held casually in Hitomi-sensei's hand. Her teacher had that look in her eye again, that slightly sadistic smirk that was restricted to her eyes, the kind of look that told her that the only one to be laughing in the end would be Hitomi-sensei. Hitomi-sensei began to explain, "Kawarimi is the art of replacement. When you are about to be hit with an attack, you find a nearby object and switch, the object taking the hit for you. Now, the chakra side of this jutsu works rather like a rubber band. You stretch it to include you and the object, and then snap it back," with her free hand, Hitomi-sensei pulled out a summoning scroll, that when opened, allowed small blocks of wood to tumble onto the floor, "I will demonstrate once. Then I will attack. You will use kawarimi to evade as you would in a real battle." She commanded, not asking, not allowing her to question, not even providing an alternative for if Keika wasn't able to pull off the jutsu.

In a puff of white smoke, Hitomi-sensei vanished from her spot, moving half a foot to her right, leaving only a lump of wood in her place. Then she gripped her kunai and threw it right at Keika's head.

Keika could pull off the technique. She knew that she could. From the look in her teacher's eyes, she knew that Keika could do it as well. But there was something else to this, wasn't there? It was hidden in the gleam in Hitomi-sensei's eyes. It was like how her teacher hadn't told her how to walk up the post, making her figure it out. Or how with the training dummies yesterday, they attacked if you didn't kill them. Everything was a test.

So if this was really a battle, and Keika was really trying to kill Hitomi-sensei, then what would she do? The pieces of wood were scattered all over the floor. Someone during _training_ would use a replacement close by to themselves because they were in no rush, no hurry, no danger. But someone during a _battle_ would replace themselves with an object nearby their opponent. As the kunai was only an inch away from her skull, Keika's eye fell on the piece of wood next to Hitomi-sensei's foot that had been used for the demonstration.

Gathering her chakra, she pictured a rubber band, snapping her and the wood to different places. In a puff of smoke that she didn't quite see, she found herself stumbling foreword, towards Hitomi-sensei, kunai in hand and ready to strike. With a smile in her eyes, Hitomi-sensei brought her own weapon up to counter, tilting her body slightly to land a rib-shattering kick on Keika's chest. Ducking her teacher's leg as fast as she could, Keika got into one of the battle stances that she had been drilled on mercilessly yesterday. She reached her hand into one of her new weapon pouches and pulled out a handful of shuriken that she threw at Hitomi-sensei.

Hitomi-sensei, still smiling in her eyes, stepped backwards and bent her body almost in half, the shuriken passing harmlessly over her head. In less than an instant, she snapped straight, arms at the ready. And Keika glanced into Hitomi-sensei's eyes and she knew. Her teacher had purposely stepped next to another chunk of wood on her left. This was still a test on kawarimi, after all. But that was what Hitomi-sensei wanted her to do, _expected_ her to do. And Keika would not play that game. Activating the kawarimi technique, she spun around, kunai in hand, ready to attack.

And her teacher saw the puff of smoke where Keika had been less than a second ago, and she turned to face her left, where she expected her to come from. But she was wrong. Keika slammed her calf into Hitomi-sensei's neck, ready to slice with the kunai. Keika had replaced herself with one of her shuriken.

In a second, Hitomi-sensei had removed the kunai from her hand and threw her backwards across the room. Keika was flying towards solid stone, about a second away from possibly breaking her back. She once again used kawarimi, hastily changing her course so that she was skidding backwards across the stone, this time on the other side of Hitomi-sensei and with much more room between her back and a wall. To stop herself from tumbling backwards till she _did _hit the wall, Keika grabbed the stone floor with her bare hands. Her palms and fingers scrapped and bleed as she tried to get a grip on the ground. But like Hitomi-sensei had said during their spar yesterday, 'It does not matter if you get hurt, so long as your opponent hurts more than you.'

Breaking out into a run before she was even fully on her feet, Keika charged at Hitomi-sensei, a kunai held furiously in her hand. Before she could do anything however, Hitomi-sensei stepped up to meet Keika. She flicked her much larger and stronger hand out and with a single movement, disarmed Keika, before she grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back.

Keika struggled against her teacher's grip, about to pull off another kawarimi to get the hell out of there, when Hitomi-sensei's hand suddenly loosened, letting Keika tumbled to the ground. Keika staggered back onto her feet, her hand dropping to her weapon holster, waiting to see if the test was still on. Hitomi-sensei's eyes began to smile again, and Keika's hand relaxed, no longer tense. Apparently not.

"Well done," Hitomi-sensei said, her body no longer in a battle stance and showing no signs of exertion from the fight minutes ago, "I paid particular attention to the kawarimi with the shuriken. It was unexpected."

In Hitomi-sensei speak, that was like a 'Great job! I loved your spontaneous action! Have a cookie!'. Keika tried to ignore her mind's ramblings and struggled to keep a straight face. The simple idea of her grudging, praise-less, strong tempered sensei handing out free cookies… Well, it was enough to make Danzo giggle. Keika bit her lip to keep herself from bursting out in laughter. Maybe it was just because there wasn't any laughter in Root, or because there hadn't been enough laughter in her entire life at all, but it was harder to stop herself from laughing than she thought it would be.

With a glare that said clearly that she knew Keika hadn't been paying attention, Hitomi-sensei began her speech again, "Expect more practice on the kawarimi on later days. Performing a technique once does not mean you have it mastered. But for now, we will move on to the bunshin, or clone," she paused to take a deep breath before starting on her instruction, "There are many different types of bunshin that you will encounter in life. Konoha is famed for its use of the kage bunshin, a solid clone that can deliver physical hits. There are also the mizu bunshin and the tsuchi bunshin, clones made of water and earth, respectively. The type that I will be teaching you today is the most basic, just an ordinary bunshin. This creates an illusionary clone that distracts your opponent from your physical body long enough for an attack. Watch." Hitomi-sensei held up the tiger hand sign.

And nothing happened. Keika patiently waited, thinking that Hitomi-sensei had run into a snag with the jutsu and was just fixing it before she demonstrated. But that didn't really make any sense, even in her own mind. Hitomi-sensei seemed like too good a ninja to fail a technique, especially a rudimentary one. And from the look in Hitomi-sensei's eyes, it was Keika that had failed. Hitomi-sensei was waiting for Keika's reaction, Keika's diagnosis of the jutsu. "Oh, I was supposed to see something, wasn't it?" Keika asked nervously, hoping that she hadn't got it wrong, "I'm sorry."

Hitomi-sensei was shocked, and her eyes said all that and more. Her teacher frowned, "You saw nothing? Absolutely nothing?" she asked, like it was the most outlandish thing that she had ever heard, and that was in fact, what she thought as well.

Keika reluctantly nodded. Had she done something wrong? Was she going to be kicked out because of it? Hitomi-sensei held up her hands again, "Let me try something different," she said, before forming a few hand signs at a ridiculously fast pace. Slowly, dirt and mud rose from the floor, twisting and rising, till it grew into a somewhat humanoid shape, about the same size and shape of Hitomi-sensei. But to the right of Hitomi-sensei, a perfect replica of the woman appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Umm… I can see a dirt person?" Keika offered up, before she elaborated, "I mean, it's definitely person-shaped, and it's made of mud, and… Oh! But the person on your left, is definitely you, and it looks like you, so that's not mud… but…" she trailed off, sure that she had said something wrong.

To her surprise, Hitomi-sensei's face lit up, her eyes grinning, "Well well," she said, like she was enjoying this, "You see, a basic bunshin is really the most elementary form of illusion that you can get. Once you progress past that stage of illusion, it becomes official genjutsu. A tsuchi bunshin is a humanoid shape made of earth, being animated by chakra," the clone on the right melted back into the ground and vanished, "To the viewer, it appears to look identical to the caster. That is because, as with the basic bunshin, a very simple illusion wraps around the surface of the bunshin, giving the same appearance as the caster. Your eyes can see through this illusion apparently. Kage bunshin, however," she motioned to the clone on the left, who gave a nod before vanishing in a puff of smoke, "is real, not an illusion. Kage bunshin are a solid chakra construct, which is why they are considered to be the most effective of all the bunshin," Hitomi-sensei paused and gave Keika a heavy look, "How are your chakra levels?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, fine. A bit low," Keika replied, somewhat awkwardly due to the suddenness of the question. Hitomi-sensei nodded and pulled a small container out of her pocket, a black plastic tube that reminded Keika of a cigarette lighter. Hitomi-sensei tossed it to Keika with the command, "Eat one. They are soldier pills."

Catching the object clumsily, Keika saw that it was a dispenser. She flicked the button and a small red pill rolled out from the bottom. Eating it quickly, she found that it was really quite energizing. Clearing her throat, Hitomi-sensei continued, "I want you to try and form a basic bunshin. Image a second self outside the body. Begin when you are ready."

Keika formed the tiger hand seal like Hitomi-sensei had, trying to focus her chakra. But how could she imagine a second self outside the body? There wasn't one! She focused her chakra and tried to shove it outside her body, tried to make it an illusion of her. But it was just that. An illusion wasn't real. An illusion was a _lie._ But when Keika cracked her eyes open a tad to see if she was doing it right, she saw the expectation in Hitomi-sensei's eyes. She refused to let that expectation become disappointment.

So instead, she shifted her hands, forming a different seal, the one that Hitomi-sensei had used for the kage bunshin. This seal seemed right. Kage bunshin _were_ real. Hitomi-sensei had told her that they weren't an illusion. They were solid, real, chakra. She felt her chakra twist and turn, and she forced it out of her body, making it solid, solid like her, not faking anything, not being a lie, being an honest solid clone. With a puff of smoke, a surprised, solid looking Keika appeared less than a foot away from her.

Keika looked at her clone. It was strange. She could see her own emotions without use of a mirror. She… didn't like it. She wanted the clone to _go away_! And with a silent mental command, it vanished, in another puff of smoke.

Keika felt drained, like half of her chakra, if not more, had vanished. Her knees buckled and she struggled to stand straight. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the container of soldier pills, hastily eating one to replenish her energy. Hitomi-sensei was a bit shocked, "Why did you not create a bunshin? I did not ask for a kage bunshin. Why did you not perform the task I assigned you?" her voice wasn't loud or yelling, but it had this tone that let Keika know that her teacher was one inch away from screaming at her.

"I… I don't think I can…" Keika said, hating to admit it, afraid that she would be punished, or worse, called useless, "It's not… My eyes… my eyes can see people's emotions," she began, explaining seeming harder than she thought, "I saw through Fu- Junichi-san's henge as well. And… and I can also tell when people are lying. That was how… last night I… Mitsuo-san, my roommate, he asked me my name and I… I knew that I lied, I mean, I _can_ lie, but I know I'm lying… and then I looked in the mirror… Oh, but anyway… if a basic bunshin is an illusion, like a henge and genjutsu, then I don't think that I can create a… a lie," she muttered, looking down at her feet to avoid seeing the disappointment in Hitomi-sensei's eyes.

There was silence so heavy that it could be cut with a knife. Scared of the silence and what it might mean, Keika reluctantly glanced up at Hitomi-sensei, tensed, already waiting for the disappointment and hatred that would come. Instead, her teacher was in shock, like she couldn't believe this, but at the same time, deeply, deadly, curious as to the hows and whys. Her eyes slipped into the same look that they had when she was giving Keika a test. She suddenly held up her hands and ran through a long series of hand signs in less than a second.

Then she turned to look at Keika, who stood there, having no idea what Hitomi-sensei just did. But her simple lack of reaction shocked, and somewhat scared her teacher, who looked to be in complete disbelief. Hitomi-sensei's mouth quirked up into a strange grin, like she had forgotten how to smile outside of her eyes, "Well well. You just saw through the most powerful genjutsu that I know. Considering that I am ANBU and have obviously trained thoroughly in genjutsu, feel free to be a little impressed with yourself. However, this does pose a serious issue. If I am to understand correct, for every gift, you have a weakness. You see through bunshin, but are incapable of producing one, the exception being the kage bunshin. You see through henge, but, like the bunshin, cannot create one. You see through genjutsu, but I assume that you cannot use genjutsu either."

"Is that good… or bad…?" Keika managed to ask. And what was an ANBU anyways? It had to be powerful for Hitomi-sensei to praise her, but the word was foreign to her. And despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of creating a kage bunshin, she didn't think that she would ever use one unless there was no other option. She didn't like seeing her own emotions. And it took up too much chakra anyways.

"It is… both," Hitomi-sensei decided on, having a hard time deciding on even that vague answer, "In exchange for seeing through genjutsu, one of the three main branches of jutsu has been forever closed to you. Do you see? Bunshin will not distract you in battle, but if you need one for a distraction, you will have none. Disguises will never fool you, but you will not be able to fool others. It is a weakness wrapped up with a blessing. A gift that you must learn to compensate for."

The inability to use genjutsu? Unable to use bunshin? And, no henge? Keika felt a bit like crying. It was like she promised Fushidara-nii-san that she would become a great ninja, only for him to turn around and punch her in the gut. "Can I… Will I be able to continue being a shinobi?" she asked hesitantly, afraid for the answer, afraid that they would kick her out and never let her see Fushidara-nii-san again.

"Yes." Hitomi-sensei said calmly, seemingly unaware of Keika's inner turmoil, "You will simply need to learn how to compensate for your failings, that is all," she sighed, running a hand through the back of her hair. Keika assumed that the gesture was supposed to make her looked annoyed by this extra work, but it concealed… jealously. Bitter bitter jealously and anger and hatred and a simple sense of 'fuck the world'. What had happened to her teacher to make her so alone and full of spite?

Hitomi-sensei pulled a piece of plain white paper out from her back pocket, "I was going to drill you on henge as well, but I can see that there is no point. Consider your training on genjutsu permanently canceled as well. We shall move on to elemental ninjutsu. I do not expect you to master one of these techniques any time soon, but even having one basic and badly formed elemental ninjutsu is a very good step up from your current level. See the paper in my hand? It is chakra paper. When you channel chakra into it, it will reveal your elemental affinity. Far easier than any other method," she handed a piece to Keika, who took it awkwardly, "If the paper crumbles, then you have earth. Becomes soaked, water. Burns, fire. Crumpled, lightning. And if it gets cut, wind. Go ahead." Hitomi-sensei gave a nod at Keika.

Holding the paper awkwardly in her small hands, Keika gathered chakra into her hands and pushed it out of her body, like trying to shove the energy into the paper. The paper was split evenly down the center, the two halves cut by some unseen force before they burst into flame.

While Keika stared at the bits of ash that floated to the ground, Hitomi-sensei's eyes narrowed. Keika looked at her teacher out of the corner of her eyes, watching the strange emotions on Hitomi-sensei's face. It was distrust, jealousy, and even spite. But then Hitomi-sensei's face blurred out and all she said was, "Well I know many fire techniques, so it should not be too hard to instruct you in this. I do not know anyone to teach you wind, so we shall leave that for later."

Her face once again became an indifferent mask, her eyes dulling so that Keika had to stare hard to see her emotions. Hitomi-sensei cleared her throat, "Even the most basic Katon users can use fire chakra to apply extreme heat to an object. You can super-heat kunai, or even take it so far as to scorch a person with a simple touch. If you have the will and patience to learn this method, I will teach it to you."

Keika nodded her head enthusiastically, her eagerness to learn successfully helping to distract her mind from Hitomi-sensei's weird emotions. All that mattered was becoming a great ninja so that she could help Fushidara-nii-san. If she had to deal with whatever plagued Hitomi-sensei first, then she would deal with it for as long as it took.

Hitomi-sensei's critical eye evaluated Keika in some way before she picked up one of the wooden blocks used for the kawarimi training. She held up her hand for Keika to observe, "Watch carefully. To perform this jutsu, you have to have careful charka control. Your chakra must be _expelled_ from your body only, never internalized. Internal chakra strengthens your limbs, so many are tempted to keep channeling chakra to their limbs normally when doing this. That is not the case. If your chakra is not completely expelled and controlled, then it will burn you as well," her hand suddenly began to glow red, as if like lava. Hitomi-sensei lazily tossed the block of wood into the air. It flew up and then slowly fell down, before Hitomi-sensei's white-hot hand reached out and snagged the block. Immediately, the wood burst into flame.

Burned clumps of ash fell from her fingers as the fire vanished as soon as it had arrived, running out of matter to burn so very quickly. Hitomi-sensei waited for the wisps of smoke to vanish before she turned to Keika, "I want you to practice the basic steps first, as it will take you a long time to understand. It is late, and I will dismiss you for the day after I go over the steps."

Keika nodded firmly and focused her mind entirely on remembering this. With a slight sigh, Hitomi-sensei began, "The first step is to bring chakra to your hand. Turn that chakra red hot, fuel it with everything that you have. Make it burn. Focus on expelling that chakra from your body. Your natural instinct will be to internalize this chakra and allow it to return to its usual flow in your body. Do not let it become internalized. Make it hotter and keep expelling chakra. This will take time and will be much more difficult than it seems at first glance."

"I understand. Thank you sensei." Keika said, bowing her head to her teacher as she turned to leave the room.

"Oi." Hitomi-sensei protested calling Keika back, "One last thing. Seeing as there is no point attempting to instruct you in genjutsu, I expect you to read up on Fuinjutsu to compensate for that slack. Danzo-sama does not permit any books on Fuinjutsu to be kept in the archives, but if I were you, I would just start doodling and see where that takes you."

Keika allowed herself a small smile before she hurried out of the room. So Hitomi-sensei was even going to help her learn Fuinjutsu against Danzo's specific instructions? That was rather unexpected, but then again, so was her teacher's unwillingness to turn her in to Danzo this morning. Did Hitomi-sensei have an ulterior motive? Keika found that her answer was a definite yes. What exactly went on inside the mind of her teacher? If Keika had the malice in her to distance herself from her teacher and refuse to learn fuinjutsu, she probably would have turned down the offer to learn the art.

But Fuinjutsu! It was far more than just pretty drawings, simplistic diagrams, or even the most fancy of art works. The way she could draw swirls and lines and kanji and make them come to life and answer to her commands wasn't exactly helping to lower her slight ego. But it wasn't just that either. Fuinjutsu fascinated her. It was like standing in a lake of knowledge, utterly helpless to stop herself from drowning in the information. Keika needed to learn how to swim. The feeling of learning something so huge that she might never fully understand it was so very tempting. It was a challenge. It was like the universe had said that she couldn't do it, no one could, and she wasn't going to ever understand it all. And Keika was just dying to rise to the challenge, to prove everyone wrong. And then, once she had mastered the art, she could save Fushidara-nii-san.

Keika hurried to the Disk, jumping down the large stairs two at a time in her hurry to return to her room. The noise of the make-shift hospital on the bottom floor was only background noise to her now, for her mind was far too occupied with drawings of seals for her to pay too much attention to the hell below.

She entered her floor of section B and hurried down the hallways, glad that Mitsuo would not be there to watch her experiment with fuinjutsu and her new jutsu. Sometimes, it was good to be alone. She entered her room, shutting and locking the door behind her so as to ensure that no one would enter, even though she doubted anyone would, she knew that it was far better to be safe than sorry.

Step one, she thought, holding her hand up so that she could see it. Channel chakra into your hands. She gathered as much of that energy as she could, making it hotter and hotter and- she glanced down at her hand and realized that it was no more than a tiny bit warm. She tried again, attempting to draw out the heat.

Imagine a flame. She pictured white-hot heat in her mind, something that could burn and scorch and turn things to ash. Like the sun over a desert, burning. She saw her hand turn red before she felt the beginnings of an extreme heat begin to touch her skin. Damn, she had to expel the chakra! She focused on pushing it out, shoving the energy away from her skin.

Then her hand felt like it was on fire, and she imediantly dropped the technique. Not good enough, Keika thought mutely in her head. But she was tired, and it was late, and she would have tomorrow to practice. She settled down into her bed, not knowing that she only had less than two weeks before she would have to fight.


	6. Hell

**Improbability **

**6**

**Hell**

* * *

Keika ran up the large steps of the Disk, no longer hindered by her short stature, using chakra to compensate. She had to run as fast as she could, being pushed and shoved by other larger and stronger shinobi as everyone was hurrying to reach the exits. Keika wasn't really aware of what was happening, not sure what was going on. The medics that once tended to the wounded a week ago at the bottom of the Disk had long since left. The only reason Keika was running was because of the tight hold that Mitsuo had on her hand as he dragged her up the steps.

Over the past week, her training had gone as per normal. But that morning, she had been woken far too early for her to believe that anything was normal. Mitsuo had helped to drag her out of bed, telling her in a calm and rational voice that didn't match the fear in his eyes, that Konoha was being attacked. Iwagakure's forces were storming the main gates of Konoha. It was time to go to war. And Keika would have to fight.

The two of them had hurriedly dressed in the armor that had been laid out in one of the large rooms of the storage section. Keika had been handed a long-sleeved shirt of mesh armor, reinforced pants, steel boots, leather gloves. She hadn't had time to put her hair up, so it covered her eyes nicely. Her weapon pouches had been filled with large capacity scrolls containing anything from extra shuriken to explosive tags powerful enough to take down a building. Then she had been handed a tanto that she slung across her back. And Hitomi-sensei, who was now leading the two children through the chaos, had tossed her a Konoha hita-ate. The symbol of becoming a true shinobi, the pride of wearing a head band with the symbol of her village, none of that came to the forefront of Keika's mind at the time. All she had thought was that the metal plating would stop senbon to her skull. Keika assumed that all the pride would come later. At the moment, she was too scared and nervous to be sure of anything.

As they hurried to reach the above ground section of the Root base, Keika had made sure not to look anyone in the eyes. At first, she had been searching faces in the crowd, trying to pick out the face of Fushidara-nii-san. But then she had realized that he was not there. And looking hurt far too much. Everyone here was terrified, scared, afraid, panicked. Even if they didn't show any emotion, it did not mean that their dull and bleached personalities were invisible to Keika's eyes. She could see, and feel, the terror that they were going through in their heads. And there was also the resignation, the tired understanding that this had happened to them before and it would happen again, and there was nothing that they could do about it except for rolling over and dying, and maybe dying would be easier, because dying didn't hurt and- Keika had to look away. No one wanted to go to war, even if it was necessary. She was no exception.

Ahead of them, the crowd split, half of the shinobi going to the East entrance, and the other half heading to the West entrance. Hitomi-sensei led the two of them towards the West entrance. As soon as they were above ground, Keika's eyes snapped shut for a moment, surprised by the steady stream of cold air that blew across her face. Below ground, there had been no wind. Once her eyes opened, she was surprised. It was nighttime, probably one or two in the morning, if not earlier than that. The moon was full, looming overhead and lighting up the world, casting a strange darkly glow on everything that its phantom light touched.

The stream of people broke off, groups of three or four vanishing off into different sections of the forest. Hitomi-sensei paused and turned to Keika and Mitsuo, "Mitsuo, follow squad five to the Northwest entrance, and hurry!" her voice was commanding a full of respect. But she was scared as well, scared, sad, and resigned to her fate. Mitsuo nodded, dropping Keika's hand and vanishing into the depths of the forest.

Hitomi-sensei did not grab Keika's hand as Mitsuo had, but Keika followed her teacher anyways. The two of them leapt into the trees, breaking out into a fast paced run. From her right, Keika could hear loud alarm bells that she assumed came from Konoha proper, a call to battle. "We are going to the main gates of Konoha, were most of the fighting is! I will be keeping most of the chunin off you, but I need you to take out some of the genin that we will face!" Hitomi-sensei yelled.

A few more squads of ninja fell into place above them. These ninja were different though, wearing the green flak jackets of Konoha proper. But Keika didn't have time to focus on them, didn't have time to focus on anything.

They had broken through the tree line. The forest clearly had been larger earlier, but burned logs and fallen trees formed the edge of a battle. To her right, Keika could see the far-away tops of deserted houses and buildings that she knew must belong to Konoha proper. A wall ran around the edge of that, but large sections had been torn down or had collapsed. Two large gates had fallen to the ground, and Keika wasn't entirely sure that the red that covered them was entirely paint. Her suspicions were probably correct as well.

Because in front of her lay hell.

In all directions, almost as far as she could see, ninja of all sorts were fighting to the death. The ground was strewn with bodies, large remains of buildings were being used as temporary bunkers, and Konoha and Iwa shinobi hid behind the ruins of homes. The dead, they were everywhere. Bodies lay fallen, some still moving, groaning, and their noises and sounds of pain joined the screams and yells and cries that thickened the air. Pools of blood splattered around the dead like the paint of a sadistic god. The ground was stained red, so red that Keika didn't know if it had ever been earthy brown at all and if it ever would be again.

Smoke filled the air, so much that Keika thought she might choke. Large fireballs were shot off to the side where Iwa was, only to be blocked by large walls made of earth. Metal flew freely through the across the sides of battle, stray weapons no longer an issue. There was no one that you could be sure wasn't an enemy, seemingly no one who was not after your death. Keika's lungs filled with ash and smoke, she wanted to choke because she could taste blood in the air and it smelled like rust and iron and like death. Maybe it wasn't even dirt that she was choking, but the ashes from a funeral pyre, the last remains of some poor dead soul, buried with iron still in their head because no one had the time or care to remove the weapons and lay their dead to a proper rest.

She wanted to run and hide and scream and never come out of her hole in the ground, because if she did not- if she did not- Her chest was heaving and she was vaguely aware that she had begun to hyperventilate. But all she could think about was how she was- she was- _oh my god she was going to die she was going to die die die!_

Hitomi-sensei grabbed her arm and yanked her down onto the ground, headed for the nearest make-shift bunker. Keika knew that she was stepping in blood, could see the bodies that littered the ground. And as the two of them crouched behind the ruins of a building, weapons at the ready and prepared to fight, Keika finally realized why the bodies on the ground unnerved her the way they did.

She could still _see _them. Even dead, their emotions were as clear as day, perhaps even clearer than they had been when the people were alive. She could see the fear, the terror, the spite and the anger and the malice and the horrible gut-wrenching terror of realizing that they were going to die and now they were dead and all Keika could see and think about was how she was going to die and there was nothing she could do because she was so weak and tiny and helpless and the enemy was so much stronger and she was going to die! She didn't want to die! She felt their fear and horror, she could feel it creeping up on her and burrowing its way into her heart and head.

She could feel the fear making her limbs shake, and her grip on the kunai rattle. Her eyes were wide, and hot wet tears were beginning to spill from her eyes. Her eyes, her strange, powerful eyes that Danzo loved and coveted. Her eyes that she hated. Her eyes that she felt were killing her, slowly and painfully and there was absolutely nothing she could do. She wished, for the first time in her life, but not for the last time, that everyone in the world had their emotions as suppressed as the people of Root. At least then, maybe it would not hurt so much to see the terror and pain of dying. Maybe then she could stand to see the dead bodies. Right now, she felt as though each second that she gazed upon the dead, she was one second away from joining them, one second away from being struck down and killed.

"Focus, you fool!" Hitomi-sensei yelled her voice only barely reaching into Keika's paralyzed state, "The battlefield is no place to zone out! _Don't you dare die!"_

That was right! The words barely made sense, yet at the same time they were drilling themselves into Keika's mind. She couldn't die, she couldn't! That was all that mattered. So long as she didn't die, nothing else mattered. With the words like a mantra in her head, she managed to blur the images of the dead just enough so that her mind could clear, and she could focus.

A yell dragged her back to her senses. With a crash, a spike of earth broke through part of her barrier, and an Iwa ninja rushed in over the top of the rock, ready to attack. Hitomi-sensei was busy, fighting at Keika's back. And if not Hitomi-sensei, then who else on this battlefield of bodies did Keika trust to watch her back? No one to help her. She was on her own. Time to fight or die. The man was tall, easily four times Keika's size and weight. And he was charging at her, kunai in hand.

It was simple really, what Keika did. She held a kunai in her own hand already. She raised her arm and swiftly brought it down, releasing her kunai at the precise moment. The metal hit the man in the neck and bright red blood burst from the wound before he collapsed. He twitched for a moment as his face quickly became a pale white, drained of blood. Bright red stained the already rust-colored ground. The man's face contorted into a permanent expression of fear. His eyes were terrified, his limbs twisted unnaturally, his mouth open in an eternal scream.

Although she knew that she should, Keika couldn't bring herself to retrieve the thrown kunai. It was all she could do to remain standing. Her insides were clenching horribly, and her heart felt like it was becoming twisted and knotted and wrung out. She felt like she was going to throw up. But there was no time to engage in such petty human displays, because more enemies were arriving, climbing over the top of the earth spike, moving around the barrier, all heading towards Konoha. Some were felled by other Konoha shinobi. One large fire jutsu was so large and close that it almost scorched Keika as well.

She was too busy to fully realize that though. Her hands seemed to be constantly filled with kunai and shuriken as she threw handfuls of metal at her enemies. Body after body fell, some her fault, but she couldn't really say which ones. Warm wet blood splashed her face and clothing. Kunai sliced at her cheek and attacked the chinks in her armor.

It did not matter if she got hurt, so long as her opponent got hurt more. A punch to the face was retaliated by a kunai to the neck. Metal was fought with more metal. Her small stature caused many opponents to pass her by, ignore her, think that she was of no importance. She was too grateful that she was spared the pain of killing them to bother chasing them down.

She dealt with the ones that came her way though, she had to, otherwise she would be killed the same as her enemies. But then her next opponent was stronger than the others. She noticed when he swatted her kunai away like an annoying fly.

The man scoffed, and his face turned into one of confusion and he looked down at her like she was wholly unimportant. With a single blow, he knocked her to the ground. Even with her arms thrown up in a guard, Keika still felt like her whole body shattered when she hit the solid earth. She felt her back sting and smart, and she cried out in pain, the breath leaving her body upon impact.

"You're just a kid!" the man said, like he couldn't believe that a child would be fighting here. He pulled out a kunai. Oh god. Keika froze. He was going to kill her. He was honest to God going to kill her. And she looked into his eyes and saw her own death and she was about to roll over and accept it.

But if she did that, what would happen to Fushidara-nii-san? She had to do something, anything, to get out of this. She had to- had to-

"KATON: GOKYAKU NO JUTSU!" A powerful voice yelled. A huge fireball passed over Keika's head, hitting the man. He screamed painfully as his body caught fire. The flames licked around him and burned his body. His skin melted off of searing flesh like grotesque candle wax melted before a flame. His screams echoed around her mind, screams so scared and so tortured that they could have woken the devil himself. And Keika could still see his eyes. She could still see the fear on his face, the terror, the pain and the unbearable sensation of slowly and painfully dying and not being able to do anything to quench the pain, nothing to help. Not even anything to speed up the process. And every emotion was amplified a thousand times by her eyes and it was almost like she could feel everything that he felt herself.

Because if she looked any longer she thought she might stab a weapon through her own neck, Keika turned slowly to look at her savior. A ragged and tired and bruised and bleeding Hitomi-sensei stood behind her, her arms still halfway at her sides from performing hand signs at breakneck speed. "What the hell have I been teaching you for, you fool?!" Hitomi-sensei yelled at her, "Get up! Fight! I won't save you again!" she ordered, turning around to take down the next wave of enemies.

And so Keika did just that. She had to. There was no choice, she saw that now. It was kill or be killed and she would be damned if she was going to let herself die. She was fighting with twice as much ferocity now, not hesitating when she threw weapon after weapon at her enemies. She was almost killed many times, and each time she had managed to win. It was a good thing really, that Hitomi-sensei was taking out those chunin and above. If Keika had to fight those to high above her in skill level, she would really have died.

She could feel the body count growing, although she didn't want to remember numbers. She didn't even want to remember the faces that she saw, contorted with fear, but those seemed to stick in her memory and would not come out no matter how much she wanted to forget them. Each face, each expression of terror, fixed in her mind as effectively as if someone had painted it in the most permanent of paints.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. The enemies had stopped coming. Suddenly, something streaked over the top of the barrack, the kunai sticking into the ground. A piece of paper fluttered down from where it had been attached to the handle. Keika didn't really have to have seen stacks of them in her own pouch to know what it was. Her eyes could clearly read the word for 'explode'.

Her eyes took it all in under a second. The blast would be too wide for Keika to run in time. She only had a few seconds before it blew. Not even enough time to warn Hitomi-sensei. So Keika did the only thing that she could do. She dropped to the ground, knocked the kunai down so that the tag lay flat on the ground. Recoiling in disgust, she dipped her finger in the fresh pools of blood that stained the earth. Ink would have been a better option but there was no time for alternatives, no time at all. She quickly drew a containment circle around the tag, adding the necessary kanji and symbols to cancel out the blast. The paper smoked as the seals on the tag vanished, leaving behind a completely useless piece of paper.

Now to strike back. For the first time since she had discovered fuinjutsu, she used the art to kill her opponents instead of defending herself. Using the same bloodied finger, she wrote a much simpler and more powerful version of an explosive tag on the handle of one of her own kunai. Throwing it over the top of the barrack as hard as she dared, then waited a second before she held up the tiger hand sign that triggered the seal.

A huge blast of fire lit up the other side of the fight. Keika could see the dust and the smoke and chunks of earth flying. And the fire grew larger and more out of control. In her panicked haste, Keika had misjudged the size of the explosion and the distance she could throw the kunai. Maybe if this was the start of the fight, she could have thrown it the required distance, but now, after she had been fighting for god only knows how long? Not a snowman's chance in hell.

"Get out of here!" Hitomi-sensei yelled, grabbing Keika around the waist. Her teacher literally carried Keika away from the blast as she ran at a ridiculous speed. When the explosion finally died down, their ears stopped ringing, and they were a decent ways away from the blast, Hitomi-sensei unceremoniously dropped Keika to the ground.

She placed her hands on Keika's shoulders and looked the girl in the eye, "Keika," she commanded, her eyes showing just how serious this was, "I need you to get out of here. I have just received intel that the next wave is going to be jonin and above. You do not stand a chance. I need you to retreat far behind the gate, as far as you can manage. There, I want you to find the medical center. Ask for…" she paused, like she didn't know anyone to look after Keika, or even worse, like she didn't know anyone at all, "Ask for Uchiha Mikoto. Tell her you are there on the request of Kainashi, and that you need a place to stay for a while until Kainashi returns to collect you. Understand?!"

Keika hurriedly nodded, unsure of how to react in response to Hitomi-sensei's words. Her teacher shoved her forcefully away, pushing her towards the fallen red gates, "GO!" she ordered, turning her back and pulling out a kunai.

Stumbling to her feet, Keika broke out in a full on run, using as much chakra as she dared to increase her speed. Now, when she sensed weapons coming near her head, she ducked and dodged instead of retaliating. She had her orders. She hurried through the fighting, hopping to god that she did not get hit. She had the advantage of being a child. Children like her were largely ignored on the battlefield, immediately profiled as a non-threat.

Normally, she might have found it in her to exploit that naivety. Now, she glad of that, directing all her energy into running, fleeing, not fighting. She had to leap forward and hit the ground when an explosive tag went off right above her head. The smoke and ask and debris rained down on her, and she had to focus really hard not to think about the fingers that she had seen falling out of the cloud of smoke as well. She clambered to her feet again, resuming her pace and adding more speed. She had to _get out of here._

As soon as she reached the fallen red gates, a large squad of jonin hurried past her on their way to join the battle. Inside the gates and behind what was left of the wall, her surroundings were even more of a maze. Here, half collapsed building and paths and trees formed disorienting pathways. Ninja of all sorts were running around in a panic hurry, none would have time to help out a small child who was lost.

And here was worse than the battlefield.

Much worse. Unbearably worse. There were bodies everywhere, stacked in piles where she assumed they had been left to be burned or buried but people simply hadn't had the time to get around to it yet in all the chaos. Not even the flies dared to pick at these corpses. Blood was splattered onto stone like an amateur's mural, and not just blood lay about the ruins of the city. Arms and legs, bits of people that had been blown off or removed from the rest of the body in far more crude ways. Keika stumbled through the pathways, ignoring the ninja that ran past, and trying desperately to ignore the bodies.

She could see the fear and the terror, every detail of the butchery seemingly burned into her mind, burning her eyes, staining her head forever with the blood. The details, the grotesque details

She stepped on something white, like bone, that was attached to something red, like flesh, and she almost threw up again. She didn't look down at her feet and just kept walking.

She felt stunned. She felt dead. She was surrounded by gruesome and bloody horrors and there was nothing she could so about anything. Her eyes felt too wide and dry, but she knew that if she closed them now and allowed herself that relief, then she would never open her eyes again. And if her eyes were closed, how could she find the medical center like she had been ordered to? She felt tired and wide awake at the same time. If she slept now, she would never wake up, so her body was keeping her wired and awake.

The scent of blood and smoke still filled the air, and there was seemingly no end to the dead. The streets were emptier now, and Keika had a feeling that she had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Shouldn't more shinobi be surrounding the medical center? But there_ were_ shinobi here, lots of them. These ones were dead, though.

Her footsteps echoed in her mind, the sounds of battle now dulled slightly by distance. She could barely put one foot in front of the other. Her mind was swirling and she felt nauseated, she felt dull. Maybe it had been a bad idea to remove the seal that suppressed her emotions. If it was still there, then maybe all this wouldn't hurt her so much. She was vaguely aware that the cut on her cheek was slowly drizzling blood down her face, but that was insignificant compared to how much blood was splattered on her clothes. And how much of that blood didn't belong to her.

She heard footsteps approaching, but these weren't hers. She glanced up, expecting to see another shinobi hurrying off to join the battle.

That wasn't what she saw however. Approaching her was a boy, the same age as her. He had sleek black hair that fell to his shoulders and delicate features that were a bit feminine, although there were lines under his eyes from perhaps a lack of sleep. Had his eyes been blue, he would have reminded Keika a bit of Hitomi-sensei.

But his eyes weren't blue. They were red.

Red and black. But that wasn't what made Keika's breath stop in her chest or made her the tears that had been threatening to spill from her eyes finally fall. It was his emotions that did that. His face was neutral, but his eyes spoke the truth. He had seen the same bodies as Keika. He had seen that fear, that horror, he had never seen anything like it before in his life. He was scared and terrified and confused and lost and he didn't understand why there were so many bodies.

Keika felt pity. She stared at the boy with haunted eyes, who was quietly pleading to anyone who would listen to get him out of there. He took two steps closer to Keika and asked in a quiet, polite voice, "I'm looking for the medical center, do you- do you know-"

But he was cut off because Keika suddenly hugged him around the waist, sobbing into his shirt. He was startled, unsure of what to make of her. Keika straightened up and looked him in the eyes, herself crying, and him wishing that he could cry, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't be scared! Please don't! You're not going to die like them, you're not! You don't want to head that way, either, that way's worse and there's more fighting! Follow me and I'll get you out of here!"

She hadn't been able to help those kids back in the Root base. She had held back her emotions and her pity because she had to follow Danzo's rules. But here no one was watching and she would be damned if she wouldn't help him! She didn't know him, but he had seen the same things that she had. And that was cause enough for pity.

"I-" he muttered, before Keika grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street in the direction opposite the one that he had came from.

"Come on! We gotta get out of here! Hitomi-sensei said that the next wave is gonna be jonin and higher, and they might get through the others!" Keika said, her words probably meaning no sense to him, but to her they meant the world. Once they had turned a few corners, the bodies thinned out and soon there were no more dead lining the streets.

Keika slowed to a light walk, not letting go of the boy behind her, "Come on, I'm headed to the medical center as well. Hitomi-sensei said there was someone I had to find. Why you going there? You're not hurt physically."

"I'm looking for my mother," he said, his voice oddly detached, "Father wasn't home and my cousins who normally look after me are off for the war. Mother was supposed to be home. When she isn't at home, she's working at the medical center. She used to be a doctor. Why are you here? You're pretty young to be a ninja. "

Keika nodded in understanding, "You probably should've stayed home. And you're right, I'm young. But I'm not a civilian. I'm a shinobi, see?" she pointed to her hitai-ate that was mostly covered by her hair, "But sometimes, I don't want to be a ninja. When Hitomi-sensei told me to go, I was real glad."

"I'm sorry," he said, and Keika could tell that he meant it.

She smiled, "Thanks! I'm sorry too," she replied, looking down at the dark pavement, "I don't think that _anyone_ should be here," she stopped walking and looked up at him, holding out her hand, "I'm Okugi Keika. Who're you?" She would be damned if she was going to use the name that Danzo gave her.

"Uchiha Itachi," he said, shaking her hand in reply.

Keika's eyes went a bit wide, "Oh! I'm looking for an Uchiha! Uchiha Mikoto-san!" she said, and then hastily added, "Oh and nice to meet you too."

Itachi gave her a weird look, kind of confused, "What do you want with my mother?" he asked.

She tilted her head, "Uchiha Mikoto-san's your mom? Well you _do_ have the same last name so it _does_ make sense… And I don't know. I was just told by Hitomi-sensei to find her and tell her that I'm supposed to stay with her until Kainashi comes to pick me up. But I think that Kainashi is really Hitomi-sensei's name before Hitomi-sensei joined…" she didn't think that she was supposed to say anything about Root, "until she because ANBU," she uneasily decided upon.

"Oh," he said, clearly not really understanding it, partly because Keika had said everything kind of fast.

Keika curiously asked, "Hey, how come your eyes are all red and black like that? It's kind of freaky, but really cool at the same time."

He looked surprised and a bit confused. She liked that, because if he was surprised and confused then he had less room to be scared. "Red and black?" he repeated, like he didn't quite understand… and then he did. Like a light switch got turned on in his head, it seemed that he had figured something out, "It's my Sharingan. Here, is that better?" he asked, and suddenly, the red blurred out and his eyes were a plain black.

Keika was shocked. And then she was jealous. That was new. She had never been jealous before, "You can make your eyes turn off?! Lucky! Mine never do that no matter how much chakra I remove from them!" she said, staring back into his eyes and trying to figure out how he did that.

"Your eyes?" he asked, curious. Keika nodded and pushed her bangs away from her face, letting her eyes show. She could see the surprise in his face as he stared at her eyes. "What- what sort of kekkei genkai is that? Byakugan?" he mused, leaning the tiniest bit foreword to see better, "That's nothing like Sharingan. Did your parents have eyes like that as well?"

Her parents. The only two people in the world that she would not care if she had seen their dead bodies line the street. She shook her head, "No. It's… it's only… only me. Fushidara-nii-san said that he hadn't seen my eyes before either, and he's ANBU too so he must know a whole lot about this sort of thing," she looked down at her slowly moving feet, and was glad that the ground here wasn't red, "I wish…" she said, not sure if she should finish because it sounded silly, "I wish that other people had eyes like mine. Or that I could turn off my eyes. Either would be good. It would just be nice to not be so alone, you know?"

Itachi said nothing in reply, and Keika didn't have the heart to look and see what he was thinking. Perhaps he agreed, perhaps he did not. Either way, Keika didn't fell like knowing. The two walked silently through the deserted quiet village, hoping to find the medical center and leave what seemed like a wasteland of wrecked buildings.

After a while, Keika grew unable to bear the noise. There was silence round her, but she could hear screams and fighting not too far behind her. It unnerved her. "Hey…" she said quietly, and her quiet companion glanced up at her, "I'm sorry I hugged you and stuff. You just looked so…" she looked down again, her words not making sense, "Emotions just affect me more than others, especially when they're other peoples."

"It's fine," he said after a long pause, his words echoing in Keika's head, the meaning lost in the mazes of her mind, "I'm sorry too… that you can't turn off your eyes. And I'm sorry that you had to see… the bodies…" he added.

Keika felt her gut twist and churn again, "Don't feel bad for me. Be glad that _your _eyes turn off," her next words stuck in her throat, seemingly unable to force their way out. But she managed to unstick her throat and say, "I didn't… I didn't just… I was fighting. On the front. I…" her eyes began to water again, "I was so scared! I thought I was going to die!" she clutched her head in her hands, hoping to block out the images, "Their faces! I can remember them all, how they looked! I can see the pain on their faces as they… as that man burnt to a crisp and I just stood there! And I… I killed people!" she wailed, finally breaking down. She dropped to the pavement and curled into a ball, tucking her head to her knees and pressing her hands to her temples as hard as she could.

There was a moment of silence, where Keika was too focused on trying to clear her mind to notice that her companion had stared out into the distance. Once Keika had quieted to a simple sob, Itachi finally spoke what had been on his mind.

"I'm going to change things, change this, change everything, I don't know," he said, shaking his head as if to clear it, "All I know is… I don't think anyone else should see what we saw, child or adult. I'll make sure that this never happens again." He didn't seem to be completely talking to Keika anymore, more like he was promising himself this. Behind the fear and the panic and the terror, there was a spark of determination in his eyes.

Keika removed her head from her hands, "You think you can really do something like that?" He nodded firmly, and Keika saw that he wasn't lying. That truth, that was all that Keika would ever need to trust him. She shakily stood up and held out her hand, "Then I promise that I'll become a strong shinobi, and I'll help you make that goal real."

Itachi nodded and firmly shook her hand. It was a pact made in the dead of night, determined out of desperation and full of fear and confusion between two children who barely knew each other, but it was a pact nonetheless.

* * *

**S-S: In response to a review last chapter, I will clarify something. I really hate writing events like that, because I know that the explanation will be written later, but I couldn't put it in earlier because there was simply no place that it fit last chapter. So someone asked why Keika could pull off the Kawarimi last chapter (or something along those lines). Well… for starters, she is supposed to be a prodigy, so I'm giving her a little leg room of what she can and cant do. But mainly, why she can do anything at al is really Root. The food. Yep, the food. The brown mush stuff is a cocktail of hormones and chakra stimulators and stuff that booms brain function and muscle activity. Eating that stuff about three times a day would do that to most kids. Of course, this is horribly damaging for kids, but I don't think that Danzo cares. So I hope that explanation helps!**


	7. Not an Uchiha

**Improbability**

**7**

**Not an Uchiha**

* * *

"Itachi! Thank god I found you!" A panicked woman yelled as she ran towards the two children. She had dark eyes and dark hair, and was wearing the standard medic uniform. She seemed almost frantic with worry and relief as she hurried towards them with a concerned look on her face.

From behind her, the bright florescent lights of the makeshift medical center lit up a section of the ruined village like heavenly light lit up a safe haven. Groups of medics hurried from patient to patient in an organized frenzy. Those with the most dire of conditions lay on stretchers and wooden boards, while those capable of standing did, hanging around the center, forming lines as they waited to be treated. As Keika watched, another man was rushed in on a stretcher. Hanging curtains of an off white color separated sections of the hospital area off from one another, creating more private areas to treat the wounded.

The woman dropped to the ground and pulled Itachi into a hug, practically crying in relief. "I heard that you were missing! What were you thinking?! I was out of my mind with worry! Do you know how much danger you were in?! Why on earth did you leave home?! I was so scared!" she sobbed, the skin around her eyes becoming red and puffy.

Itachi tried to worm his way out of the hug, not because he was being rude, just because he wasn't quite sure as to why she was hugging him, and really not used to be hugged either. The woman pulled back and looked at him, searching for injury, "Are you all right?" she asked, as if she was ready to get him the best medic in the country if he had a single cut.

He nodded, and glanced over at Keika, "O-ka-san, this is Okugi Keika," he said, as the woman clearly hadn't noticed her yet.

"Keika-chan, huh?" the woman, who Keika now realized must be Uchiha Mikoto, took one glance at her headband before her face softened into one of pity, "Dear, where are your parents? Should I call for them? Is your sensei waiting for you?" she asked, trying to get Keika to help herself.

Keika managed a clumsy bow, "I was told to wait with you actually," she said, avoiding the topic of parents, "Hitomi-sensei… umm… she told me to find you and wait with you until she could come get me." She nervously shifted under the woman's gaze. She didn't like the pity and sadness in her eyes, especially when it was directed at her.

"Well, I don't know… But if you're waiting to be picked up, you can sit in the back of the medical center," she said, and then stood, grabbing Itachi's hand, "Come on you two, you'll wait in the back until I can get you somewhere safe." And with that, she took hold of Keika's hand as well and marched the two children towards the center.

After a moment, Keika realized that she didn't really mind Mikoto holding her hand like this. Was this what a mom was supposed to be like? After everything that had happened that day, the simple gesture was surprisingly comforting. So she let Mikoto hold tightly onto her hand and walk her over to the back of the medical center. They took a slightly long way, avoiding the lines of gruesome patients and ended up in a small section that opened up to the back of the center. Apparently, the cloth curtains that hung from the ceiling were really good at suppressing sound, so there was barely any noise coming from the occupied rooms.

Mikoto deposited her and Itachi on a bench and hurried off with talk of only a few more minutes till the end of her shift and the promise of tea when she was back. And then it was only Keika and Itachi, sitting together in silence as the garbled mess of the hospital chattered away in their ears.

"Hey," Keika said quietly after a few minutes, "Your mom… she's really nice." It wasn't the most intelligent thing that Keika had ever said, and it wasn't really what she had been hoping to voice, but it was good enough for right now. And it wasn't a lie, which was always a plus.

Itachi looked down at the ground, "I suppose," he muttered, "She always agrees with father though. She doesn't… she doesn't say what she wants to. She just goes along with whatever father says, even if it's horrid."

Like how she so clearly pitied Keika for being a shinobi at her age, but said nothing. Or how people back in Kawagishi pretended that they didn't notice when Keika walked home beaten up and bruised. Or how the same people that hit her didn't notice when she cried. Or how her parents didn't say anything when Keika couldn't sleep from nightmares. People were never black or white. They were all painted in shades of grey. And sometimes, you had to look very hard to see exactly what shade they were.

"Oh." Keika said simply. There was nothing else that needed to be explained. She understood, plain and simple. It wasn't something very nice to know about the woman that held her hand, but it was necessary to see just what shade of grey Mikoto was.

The two waited patiently, neither speaking. Keika stared out into the distance, her eyes scanning the ruins of homes, waiting for some shadow to turn into the form of Hitomi-sensei, or even better Fushidara-nii-san, the tall brotherly figure promising that he would take her home, somewhere safer than here. Itachi stared at his hands, his eyes flashing between red and black, as if trying to figure out exactly how his eyes changed colors.

Inside the hospital, they could hear the sounds of stretchers being wheeled to different sections of the medical center and medics rushing out to the battle field to heal patients, or the shouts for more sedative or antibiotics or a plethora of other names that made no sense. The entire center smelled sterile, and strangely like an odd mix of chemicals and alcohol trying to cover the metallic tint of blood. Keika made the snap decision that she didn't like the smell of blood. It reminded her of why people bled, and that just reminded her of earlier, and then her thoughts were consumed by flame, just like the man who had become a human torch and- Best not to go there.

Why did people have to die? Why did they have to fight? Was there some purpose to this war? To Keika, it all seemed senseless, pointless, and completely lacking of humanity. She killed because they would have killed her first, but why were they attacking her? Were they simply acting on orders from a superior, or did they honestly believe that their deaths would serve some higher purpose? _Was_ there a higher purpose to all this slaughter? If there was, she couldn't see it.

"Keika?" A voice called from outside.

Keika jumped up, "Hitomi-sensei!" she called eagerly. Finally! Maybe she could go home now!

Hitomi-sensei came into view, stepping onto the simple wooden platform. She was bruised up a bit, and there was a long but fortunately shallow cut on her left arm. The tips of her hair had been singed, evidence of a fire jutsu gone badly. But mostly the damage was on her face, a large angry red welt that began on her right ear, covered her cheek, and went up as high as the tops of her eyebrows. Fortunately, her eyes had been spared the damage.

Hitomi-sensei was scowling, clearly displeased as she stalked over to a box of medical supplies in the corner. She rotted through the box, finally pulling out a roll of white bandages and began to wrap up the side of her head. Her frown only deepened when she cast a glance at Itachi. "Made a friend?" she asked Keika, her voice full of undisguised malice that went deep into her eyes.

Itachi stood and gave a polite bow, "I'm Uchiha Itachi. It's a ple-"

"Hmph. An _Uchiha_." The name sounded like an insult on Hitomi-sensei's tongue, and indeed, that was what she intended. She was glaring at Itachi, but at the same time, she wasn't glaring at _Itachi_, more as if she was glaring at _Uchiha_. It was the family that she hated, that she despised, that she wanted to get rid of, and at the same time, it was the family that she so longed to be a part of. Keika tilted her head, trying to get a better look at her teacher and wondered how all that hatred had gotten mixed with longing.

"I don't-" Itachi tried to ask, his eyes hurt, but Hitomi-sensei cut him off once again.

"You're an _Uchiha._ Rotten, the lot of you," the insults were childish, but Hitomi-sensei meant every word, "Got your precious Sharingan eyes yet, have you boy? That's all your filthy clan cares about anyways, your damn _eyes_." She spat on the ground, before throwing what was left of the bandages back into the box.

Keika's mouth fell open, "Sensei! What are you saying?" she asked incredulously.

_CRASH! _

There was a loud shattering of porcelain that shut them up. Shards of pale pottery rolled around on the floor. A puddle of green tea formed around two feet that had just stepped into the room. Keika's eyes followed up those feet until she met the shocked face of Mikoto. The woman's hands were shaking, and dripping with green tea. But it was her face that looked broken, not the tea cups. Her eyes were shocked, wondering, and greatly relieved, like she had just seen a ghost.

"Kai…nashi?" she muttered, like the name was a great question. Her eyes filled with tears and relief as she began to sob, "Oh Kai-chan! I thought you-" she stumbled towards Hitomi-sensei, her hands clasped in front of her chest, "I thought you were dead!"

Hitomi-sensei snorted, "Thought I was that weak huh? That I couldn't handle myself?" she asked furiously, spitting the words out like fire. Her eyes showed more than hatred, her eyes showed the lust for something more, _revenge. _

Mikoto recoiled, as if the words were a physical attack that had hurt as much as any kunai, "No, of course I didn't mean that!" she tried to amend, visibly hurt and wounded from the harsh rebuttal, "I just meant… it's been so long and there had been no word from you! I didn't know what to think, I thought you had gone and died, I had no idea that you were still alive! Kai-chan, where were you?"

"Do not call me that name!" Hitomi-sensei said with a glare, her voice rising to an almost dangerous level, "I am not Kainashi, no matter how useless you and everyone else may think me to be! I've spent years proving just how _powerful_ I am! I am _respected_ like no other! Danzo-sama _trusts_ me! I have become much stronger than _you_ or _anyone_ else!"

Black eyes glistening with tears, Mikoto looked at the younger woman with pity and sadness in her eyes, "Oh _Kai-chan_, what _happened_ to you?"

"What _happened_ to me?! What do you think?! You were _there_! Do not pretend that you have forgotten!" Hitomi-sensei yelled, "They hated me! They despised me! They called me worthless and pathetic and a waste of space! You know exactly why! You were there! You saw that cheep, _cowardly_ move! You saw him explain exactly how I could have won and exactly how I lost! And you think I can _forgive_ you, any of you?!"

"I wasn't my fault! I only wanted-"

"Wanted what?! You had _everything_, were_ given_ everything! So what if you weren't the strongest?! None of that mattered! I know, 'big brother was stronger than me', right?! That's always been your tack! So what!? That didn't matter! At least _you _were _loved_!"

"So were you, I love-!"

"You, love me? What a joke! You had everything! I had _nothing_! That has always been the way of the Uchiha! Those gifted are of worth, those not are worthless!"

"I never thought of you as worthless, I-"

"You?! With your precious eyes!"

"It's not my fault that I have-"

"And your precious _son_! With his precious _eyes_!"

"It is not my son's fault that he has the Sharingan!"

"THEN WHY WAS IT MY FAULT THAT I DIDN'T?!"

Angry, red-hot tears flowed freely from Hitomi-sensei's eyes as she glared at Mikoto with all her hatred. For once, it seemed that Mikoto had no defense. The older woman collapsed into a mess of sobs, and whispered, "Oh, _nee-chan_…"

And suddenly, everything that Keika had ever known about her teacher suddenly made sense. The loneliness, the hatred, the feeling of being cheated and robbed.

Her teacher had pretty blue eyes.

_Blue_ eyes.

Blue would never turn red, no matter how much Hitomi-sensei wanted. In a clan of people famed for Sharingan eyes, she had been shunned, hated, deemed worthless, all because her eyes would never awaken the Sharingan. It had been so very, very like Keika's own story. Hitomi-sensei had been doomed from the moment she was born, hated from the moment that she opened her eyes. When her family looked at her, all they would see were her eyes, and how they were so very wrong. They would not see personal achievement, or intelligence, or merit. All they would see was how wrong her eyes were. And Keika wasn't sure that she was fully talking about Hitomi-sensei anymore. Because the same thing had happened to her. And now, everything made sense. The reason why Hitomi-sensei hadn't mentioned Keika's betrayal to Danzo. Because Hitomi-sensei was just like Keika. Hated for her eyes. She wasn't loyal to Danzo, she saw him as a stepping stone in the world, someone to use to further her own worth. She didn't trust him, because who would trust anyone when they had been hated their whole life.

There was a knock on the door, just loud enough to rouse Mikoto from whatever stupor she was in.

Slowly, like in a sleepwalk, she opened the door. And then she suddenly gasped and asked, "Wha- what may I do for you?"

As Mikoto stepped aside to allow the man into the room, three things happened simultaneously. Itachi stood up and gave a bow, Hitomi-sensei stepped protectively in front of Keika, and Keika simply said, "Wow."

The man was probably in his early thirties or late twenties, with light blue eyes and messy blond hair that fell just to his shoulders, but stuck up all over the place on its way there. He wore the standard Konoha hitai-ate, as well as a traditional green flak jacket and navy blue fatigues that marked the rest of the jonin. He was saddened, for something terrible had clearly just occurred. But that wasn't what Keika was staring at.

She was staring at the most fascinating object that she had ever seen. It was a simple, three-pronged kunai that the older man was holding. But on the handle, oh, on the handle was the most beautiful and intricate seal that Keika had ever seen. Her eyes drank in every line, every single word. She was so engrossed in the marvelous piece of fuinjutsu that she almost missed the conversation going on.

"You are Uchiha Mikoto, right?" The man asked, and then glanced over at Hitomi-sensei, "And Uchiha Kainashi?"

Mikoto nodded, while Hitomi-sensei remained passive and unresponsive. Mikoto asked, strangely worried, "What- what has happened? It's not- it's not Obito-chan, is it?"

The man gave a sad nod, feeling sorry, and partly like whatever had happened was his own fault, "Obito perished on our task to destroy Kannabi bridge. There was a run-in with Iwa shinobi along the way, while I was separated from the group. One of our team was kidnapped by the enemy and Obito… was taken down while trying to save her."

A great wave of sadness passed over Mikoto, who collapsed to the floor, too shocked to truly sob, but not aware enough to stop the flow of tears that poured from her eyes like a leaking faucet. The sadness and horror radiated out from her face, full of a hoping, a dear and pointless hope that she had heard wrong and that this was somehow not true. "Oh god…" she muttered, as if not fully able to come to terms with this, "Obito-nii-chan…"

Hitomi-sensei snorted, "Our little brother? Dead? Let me guess, the fool died _protecting_ someone?" she rolled her eyes, and she truly didn't care, "That idiot always cared too much. He probably spouted some nonsense about _teamwork_, and _comrade_s, and then when it actually came down to fighting he fell like the weakling he was. Last I heard, he didn't even have his Sharingan."

The man gave her a stern look, as if she had just said something blasphemous, "Obito saved Kakashi on the mission. And he _was_ strong enough to awaken his Sharingan. Perhaps his ideals have more merit than you think," he said proudly, looking her right in the eye.

Greed awoke in Hitomi-sensei's eyes, a deep greed that came from a dark place within her and would never be extinguished, "Oh?" she asked, her voice oddly calm, but buzzing with excitement that had yet to be released, "And then tell me, where is his body? Where are his eyes? Surely you weren't so foolish as to leave such precious eyes behind in enemy territory."

"His right eye was crushed," the man said forecfully, as if he knew why Hitomi-sensei would ask such a thing and exactly why she should not get what she wanted, "Kakashi has his left. Trust me when I say that Obito's remaining eye is in good hands."

"What." Hitomi-sensei said, her voice cold and disbelieving, "This Kakashi is not an Uchiha. How could he ever hope to wield the Sharingan. Give me his eye. God damn it! That eye belongs to me by right!"

"No." the man commanded, his voice holding no leverage, no weakness, only an unyielding command, "Obito's last request was for Kakashi to have his eye," he said calmly, but certainly, "I will not allow his last wish to go unrecognized."

Hitomi-sensei unwillingly bowed her head, "Understood," she muttered.

Who was this guy, Keika wondered. Who the heck could make Hitomi-sensei become submissive? And more importantly, how on earth did he create such an elaborately detailed seal? She had never seen so many words and meanings crammed into such tiny writing.

"Come on Itachi-chan, let's head home," Mikoto said, grabbing the boy's hand with her own and proceeding to practically drag him out of the room, not wanting him to be anything less than 100% safe at the moment.

Itachi waved sadly to Keika, not wanting to leave, but at the same time, he still had that sadness of wanting to get out of here, to leave, to go far away, "I'll see you around I suppose," he said, before following his mother out of the center.

"I'll see you again! Don't forget our deal!" Keika reminded him, waving as well, not wanting to say goodbye, but knowing that she would see him again. She had to see him again. They had made a deal, after all. Deals were not made to be broken.

This deal _would not_ be broken.

She would ensure that.

So she stood there, waving with one hand, smiling a partly fake smile as she watched her friend disappear into the night. Friend? Was that the right word for Itachi, the shy boy who, like her, had seen the bodies? The boy who had so desperately wanted to run away but refused to act on it? The boy who was, without a doubt, carrying the same emotional baggage as Keika? The boy who had seen the same things as her, but unlike her, had found some resolve, some goal, in the chaos? Yes, she decided, it was a good word to describe him.

Lowering her hand, Keika walked up to the tall man and poked him the thigh, which was as high up as she could reach. He looked down at her, surprised, but not openly hostile. "Hey," Keika asked, "Can I see that?" she pointed to the seal written on the kunai.

"This?" he asked holding it up, "It's just a special kunai that I use when I fight." He replied to her question with a faint smile, as if she had the mind of the child that she pretended to be. But he wasn't trying to be rude, Keika realized, he was simply trying to be kind to her.

Keika shook her head, "I don't mean the kunai! I mean the seal!" she said, tilting her head in that same look that she always got when she was examining things, "Hiraishin 'Flying Thunder God'" she read off, "Teleportation, right? That's what it says most clearly, but there are about a million other things written underneath that so it's pretty hard to tell. Jikukan ninjutsu always gives me a headache. From what I can see, you can instantaneously teleport to any spot that has this same marking. So it's not true teleportation, it's more like fault lines that you can use to travel on. It looks like it can only take one person, but that could probably be overridden with physical contact- if the user was touching the companion. How did you make it?"

The man was stunned. Visibly stunned. It wasn't a negative surprise, in fact it was a positive one, like he was honestly glad that she was clever, even if it unnerved him a bit. From the next look on his face, it seemed as though he decided not to ask how such a young child could know such things, instead deciding to treat her as an adult. He crouched down so that he was at eye level with her, "Well you see, the seal looks like only the basic kanji that are the techniques name, but if you look closely," he pointed to the seal, "Each kanji is only… well, it's like tape. The real inner workings are the chakra part, the kanji just act as a binding agent to hold the chakra portion together."

"Oh," Keika muttered, "That makes so much sense. I think of the chakra half as different layers to the same technique, I didn't know that they were so interrelated. Hmm… I must have been doing it all wrong. See I kept thinking that the two were separate, because when I work, it's the chakra half that I use to determine the function, but I've never used kanji in seals before."

The man handed Keika the kunai, "Well, you're not wrong, you just are missing pieces. You have to consider more than simple layers and have to begin thinking of the world as a tapestry, every thread connecting to others. How long have you being studying fuinjutsu, by the way?"

Keika took the kunai into her too-small hands and looked at it with relish, "Umm… two weeks," she said hesitantly. For such a long time, to have been so completely wrong about her theories! Ugh, it made her want to run back to her stack of papers and burn the entire stupid thing.

Perhaps if Keika hadn't been so absorbed in what she believed to be her failure, she would have looked up and seen the shocked expression on the man's face. But Keika did not look up, and instead only heard him say calmly, "Well take a look at it, I need to talk to Kainashi for a moment."

Keika nodded, vaguely aware of him standing up and walking over to Hitomi-sensei. She had drawn herself into her mental world of fuinjutsu, filled with runes and spirals and the most complicated seal designs. The Hiraishin was her latest challenge, her puzzle to solve. This was like one of Hitomi-sensei's tests, only this, _this_ was _facisnating_.

Then Hitomi-sensei yelled.

"What do you mean, teach!? Do you have any idea whose shinobi you are messing with!? She's studying under Danzo-sama himself!" Hitomi-sensei declared, crossing her arms in defiance.

The man did not seem to get angry with her, instead sighing, and attempting to reason with her again, "She needs to learn Fuijutsu properly. She clearly has a gift and a gift like that should not go untrained. Besides, it was my belief that Danzo-sama's program hadn't much more time before it was cancelled," he said carefully.

Hitomi-sensei opened her mouth about to reply with a furious retort, but then she closed it and ran a hand through her hair, "Fine, damnit. Only one day a week, otherwise I can't train her properly either. And no 'Will of Fire' crap either, all that Senju inspirational stuff is rubbish." She sighed and then glanced down at Keika, "Kamiko, could you come here a moment."

It was a command, not a request, but that wasn't what made Keika paused for a moment before she walked over obediently. The name Kamiko. Her false name, given to her by Danzo. Whatever reason Hitomi-sensei had for using her false name, Keika knew that it couldn't be good. Somehow her fake name signaled the return to the world of technicalities, where her 'official' name must be used. "What is it, sensei?" she asked, leaving off a name, unsure of what to call Hitomi-sensei-slash-Kainashi.

She sighed again, and then looked the man in the eye, "Namikaze-sama is going to be your fuinjutsu instructor from now on. He has agreed to take you off my hands for one day a week. You are not to mention to anyone where you are going. You are not to tell Danzo-sama, or Mitsuo where you are going. Is that understood?"

Keika nodded happily, "I'm going to learn fuinjutsu!? Really?! That's awesome!" she declared, clapping her hands together, "When do I start? What's my first lesson? I've never had a proper teacher on the subject before!"

She couldn't believe this! After so long of Hitomi-sensei telling her that there was no way that Danzo would allow her to learn fuinjutsu, she had finally become used to the idea that she would have to study the subject by herself. And now, she wouldn't have to be self-taught after all!

So after she had waved goodbye to her new teacher, Hitomi-sensei had carried her on her back as they ran through the forest, returning to the Root base. Keika had tucked her head into Hitomi-sensei's shirt, blocking the smell of blood and the sight of the bodies.

It seemed like part of the world had ended.

Hopefully, life would begin again.


	8. Learning Fuinjutsu

**Improbability**

**8**

**Learning Fuinjutsu**

* * *

Days became blurs. As soon as the damage to the base was repaired, and the bodies hastily removed from the premises, Keika's life became scheduled again. Hitomi-sensei would work her to the bone during the day, the training she went through becoming even more rigorous and more testing than before. She had thought that without the looming threat of battle over their heads that her training would relax, but it was not so. Late in the evening, she would stumble into bed, exhausted; only to be plagued by nightmares of blood and bodies and fire that consumed her mind until she was woken by the wake-up call only to go to training even more tired than the previous day.

And she waited desperately for Wednesday. Then, she would be able to leave the Root base. She could leave the stuffy underground fortress where she couldn't tell day from night. Could leave the place where she was constantly watched. Just for one day, just once a week. Just for a very short amount of time. But she would be learning fuinjutsu, and that, surely, would fix everything. That was what she told herself. That was what kept her going.

She would learn fuinjutsu. She would master the subject. And then, she would release the seal on Fushidara-nii-san's mouth and let him be free from Danzo forever. And then she would live happily ever after with her big brother.

At least, that was how she used to think things would work. Ever since the battle, her views had changed. She had never seen the world through an idyllic mirror. She always knew that the world was a harsh and cruel place. But she had always hoped that there was a place, somewhere far off where everyone was happy, where she could be happy, and where no one would bother her. A place where someone would fix her eyes and where she would live with people who loved her.

Now, she didn't think that there was such a place. She had seen the death and the despair, and she knew that she never wanted the terror of death to come to her. It was ridiculous really. She was only four, death would not be coming to her for a very long time. But maybe there was something about the bodies, or how the darkness of her room always changed into faces full of fear, something that made her go body go cold and her eyes wide as the images re-surfaced. But there were always those words to chase away the nightmares. _I'll make sure that this never happens again._ She had made a promise. She didn't lie. She would not break her promise.

Three months passed. They passed slowly, heavy bags of sand dragging across Keika's mind that refused to speed up. Keika realized that she didn't know when the next Wednesday was anymore. That was horrible. She had to know when she might get to leave, had to count the days because the days were precious and they were the only way she knew that time passed inside the Root base and that it hadn't simply stopped.

Then one day, Hitomi-sensei had woken her early in the morning, before the wakeup bell. Keika had not been allowed to get breakfast, instead munching thoughtlessly on an energy bar that her teacher had shoved into her hand. As Keika rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Hitomi-sensei had already pulled her to one of the exits and explained in a terse and quiet voice how she had managed to obtain permission for Keika to train outside one day a week. She had told Danzo-sama that Keika had found a local teacher that could instruct her in ways that Hitomi-sensei was unable to and that this teacher would not ask unnecessary questions.

Her teacher had led her out of the base and through what must have been the long way to get to what looked like a cross between a dojo and a library and a house that sat nearer the edge of Konoha. The place had this all-natural look to it, wooden and not stone, paper screens instead of heavy metal doors. It was strange to see such a pretty place in the world when all Keika could remember of outside of the base was either abuse and hatred, or corpses and hell. Yes, it certainly was good to get out more. Keika had asked her teacher where they were, but all the silently furious woman replied with was 'The Uzumaki estate. Don't ask questions.'

Lovely.

Her teacher marched up to the door, standing there impatiently. Before Keika could ask why on earth her teacher wasn't knocking, there was a slight spike of chakra at the door, and then the paper screen slid open. It was Namikaze-sama, only he wasn't wearing the green jacket or the Konoha headband. His eyes showed a little bit of tiredness, like he had been hassled and bothered for a long time. There was sadness too, oh yes, lots of that. But in front of everything was simple and grateful content, 'yes, bad things had happened and people had died, but _we_'re all still alive.' It was rather refreshing to Keika. He wasn't hiding anything either, and unlike the members of Root, none of his emotions seemed bleached or suppressed in any way. That was nice as well.

He smiled down at Keika, "Ah, Kamiko-chan! So glad that you could make it! Come in, come in," he stood to the side, allowing her space to enter.

Keika turned and waved to Hitomi-sensei, who gave a gruff nod before vanishing in the way all ninja did. So Keika ignored her teacher's rude departure and stepped inside the house with her new sensei. She bowed, "Good morning Namikaze-sama," she said as politely as she could manage.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Just call me Minato-sensei."

"Okay Minato-sensei," Keika hurriedly amended. He wasn't the sort of person to get annoyed about such things, she knew that, but she also knew that he disliked the title. Why be rude?

He stepped to the side and entered the house, setting a pace that started slow as if trying to compensate for her shorter legs, but then got faster like he was bored of walking slowly. Keika followed him inside and hurried to keep pace with him. They were walking down a hall, the kind floored with tatami mats and had paper screen walls. She glanced up at him, "So I thought you were a Namikaze?" she asked.

He blinked, confused, "That I am. I said that."

"So then why are we at the Uzumaki estate?" Keika countered, feeling wonderfully sly and intelligent. Everyone was happy when they felt like they knew a secret, and she was only four and no exception.

Minato-sensei glanced down at her, puzzled and at the same time intrigued. Intrigue was excellent. "My… girlfriend is an Uzumaki," he was clearly nervous at calling her a girlfriend, "Do you know about the Uzumaki clan?" Keika shook her head so he continued, "They specialized in fuinjutsu. Kushina's library and materials are far superior to what I use, and will probably be of much more help in our lessons," he didn't pause at all or make any change in tone that would suggest something different. But Keika saw the accusation and slight suspicion in his eyes when he said, "Odd that you know about this estate but not the Uzumaki's."

Keika smiled, "I asked my sensei," she replied as politely as possible, "This place is really beautiful,"

"That it is," he agreed happily, "That it is Kamiko-chan."

* * *

Hitomi-sensei was frowning when she came to pick up Keika. Keika saw the dislike and the annoyance and the frustration and just how damn tired her teacher was. And for the first time in her life she ignored what she was seeing.

She was too busy thinking to see.

Her mind was full of knowledge, swirling inside her brain like a sea, moving and changing and then combining to form new ideas that explode and create something else that forms and crystallizes and becomes another fabulous idea! When she had first arrived, Minato-sensei had let her do all her work in the library, a dust and ancient place filled to the brim with heavy bound books and scrolls. After introducing her to his girlfriend (whom he called a friend when in her presence), who was a high-spirited woman with long red hair called Kushina, he had pulled out a stack of books and then began pacing the room. Apparently Minato-sensei had never taught fuinjutsu before, and was rather at a loss for how to begin. But things gained momentum once Kushina really took over.

Keika had begun her lessons with an explanation about the bare basics of what fuinjutsu was. Apparently, it was the flow of energy in objects and how this energy could interact with chakra. And that chakra was not always chakra from the user. Chakra was apparently found everywhere, in objects and in the air itself, something called natural chakra. Seals were what allowed a fuinjutsu master to utilize this natural chakra as well as change the chakra of the object that they were dealing with.

Since that was a flow of energy, and the energy is being harnessed from somewhere, not spontaneously created, many people claim that circles were the basics of sealing. In other words, everything in fuinjutsu was in a cycle, moving shape and form around but never destroying either. Even explosive tags, while at first glance would appear contradictory, were a part of the cycle. The energy for explosive tags was created by mixing chakra into the writing agent, usually blood or ink, applying that onto the paper it was written on, and then proceeded to break the chakra bonds it just created. The energy was released in the form of heat and light, thus the explosion. Theoretically, that meant a user could create an explosion at anytime, anywhere, using anything.

While circles were widely used, many used other branches. Triangles were favored as being very stable, seals that one wanted to last a long amount of time or hold large objects. A subset of that was hexagram sealing, forming eight triangles. Spirals were known for being very powerful and unstable. Kushina-sensei had said that her village specialized in spiral sealing. But there were more than just that. Minato-sensei's Hiraishin for example, was part of one of the most complex branches, using kanji alone to form a seal. But there were as many branches of sealing as there were stars in the sky, or as Minato-sensei had said, as many as people came up with. There were pictorial seals and rune based ones and geometric seals. People also came up with different tenants for sealing, the five elements, the eight trigrams, yin yang, astrological signs, and even those based on pure mathematics. Apparently prime numbers such as five or seven were more commonly used in unstable seals, whereas even numbers like six and eight were used in stable ones.

There was a lot of repeating in seals. Sometimes the symmetry of the seal was what made it work or not work. Minato-sensei taught her a famous example of a storage seal that used only one kanji, simply repeated over and over again in the shape of a dodecagon.

Apparently blood was often used, being a fabulous conductor of chakra as well as a representation of life. Commonly the symbols for life, or a person, would be removed entirely from the seal and it would instead be written in blood. There were shops that sold blood mixed with ink, for some shinobi that thought themselves above using pure blood in combat. When dealing with ink, ink tended to be weak on its own, gaining strength when mixed with chakra, or having chakra applied to it during the sealing process. Again, a fine example of this was exploding tags. They were sold in two different types, those hand detonated with chakra, or those touch detonated, those applied with chakra prior to their sale.

"Your lessons?" Hitomi-sensei asked, snapping Keika out of her thoughts. And when a pissed off Hitomi-sensei asked someone to do something, they did it.

Keika blinked, "What?" she asked, puzzled about where the conversation had been while she had been thinking.

Hitomi-sensei frowned, the annoyance in her eyes growing by the second, "As you clearly weren't listening, I shall repeat the question. How were your lessons?"

A grin formed on her face at this, "Wondrous. I had no idea that there was that much knowledge in the world!"

This clearly had not been the answer that her teacher had been looking for, "I meant, did the Yondaime ask any questions about you that would be difficult to answer?"

"Who?" Keika asked. The fourth Hokage hadn't been there, it had just been Kushina-sensei and Minato-sensei… "Minato-sensei is the Yondaime Hokage!?" she gasped. The expression in her teacher's face showed her that this was true. No wonder Hitomi-sensei had been so adamant about Keika not learning from him. From what she had seen, Danzo and Konoha, got along, but at the same time, no one liked to think that they got along. Minato-sensei seemed like the kind of person who would not like the sort of things that Danzo got up to, not one bit. This also explained why Hitomi-sensei had to follow his orders. So now there were two people in the whole world that could make her teacher bow. That was rather good to know, that Hiromi-sensei wasn't as all powerful as Keika had once thought.

"Of course," Hitomi-sensei snapped, "Now answer the question." Her teacher was annoyed, that was for certain, and something was stressing her out as well, something major. Was it simply because of Keika learning from the fourth? Or was there something more going on? Certainly Danzo would not be pleased to learn that she was studying under the Yondaime. Danzo knew that she was learning from another teacher, one that he probably had assumed to be from Konoha proper. Did he simply not want any secrets that his weapon held to get out and become public knowledge?

Keika racked her brain. Had Minato-sensei asked anything that…? "He did. He asked me where in the village I lived," Keika recalled.

Hitomi-sensei sighed, "Great. Now I am going to have to worry about that as well," she ran a hand through her short hair, "When we get back to the base I want you to practice your thrown weapons. I need to have a chat with Danzo-sama."

* * *

As she had been told, Keika returned to the room with the moving targets and spent the next few hours there. Her mind was still focused on seal arrays and methods and she felt herself slipping into a state of subconscious again, fighting only in body. That would be bad, deadly, in fact, in a real battle where her opponents moved and thought the same as she did, but it was rather comforting during training. Just the feel of her muscles burning with her eyes automatically targeting the red dots that she didn't even need marked for her anymore because she already knew the weak points by heart. She had to. They had saved her life on that battlefield.

That was something she was never going to forget. She knew that. The battlefield would stay with her for the rest of her life, as permanent as a second shadow over her mind, a shadow of crimson that she would see forever. Damn her eyes. They had caused her naught but trouble and pain back at that little village in Iwa that she had never called home, and it seemed as though they would keep up causing trouble for her whole like, never letting her get a brief respite from the pain. As she threw thin kunai and flat shuriken and even long and pointy senbon, she found her weapons hitting the targets eyes more than in the heart. She hated her eyes.

A small part of her that was gradually growing larger considered the plus side of simply taking a kunai and gouging out her eyes right now. She couldn't never forget the battlefield, but removing her eyes from her head would stop fresh memories of more battlefields being burned into her mind. And she would have done so. If it weren't for Fushidara-nii-san. Although it had been so long since she had seen him, she knew that he would never approved of her hurting herself, and she would never do something that he didn't approve of. If Keika lost her eyes, then she would be of no use to Danzo, she knew that for a fact, and things that were useless to Danzo got removed. She didn't know if he would outright kill her or simply toss her out of the village, her mind and memories unspeakable through some torturous seal or other form of jutsu.

Much as she hated it, she needed her eyes for her fuinjutsu and she needed her fuinjutsu for Fushidara-nii-san. Connecting all the dots in her mind was easy, but removing one and hoping the pattern would stay was not. She had to find a safer way of removing the seal that didn't end like hers, the user collapsed and dying from chakra exhaustion, and there was also the issue of the excruciating pain that the process caused. She didn't want Fushidara-nii-san to have to go through that pain as well.

There was only one thing about this that she was certain of. It was going to take a while.

She pressed the switch on the wall after she awoke from her last dose of the poison in the senbon, stopping the wooden wheel with the targets from spinning. She trained till she passed out, that was one thing that Hitomi-sensei had made very clear. Train until it is physically impossible to keep going. The first two weeks that she had been here, her training had been going by so fast, never a spare moment to rest and relax. After the battle, she assumed that the sped up training had been because they knew that the battle was coming and they wanted to make sure that she was ready. But even now, her training schedule hadn't relaxed. If anything, it had increased.

Everything was a test, and they were testing to see how long she could go before she simply fell and couldn't do anything anymore. It was sick and it was cruel, and Keika would not let them win. She would keep going for as long as she had to, living in the short hours of sleep and the fuinjutsu lessons that were mostly theory and held no physical demands. They would not see her break because she would never let herself break. If there was one thing that Keika was, it was contrary.

As she removed her weapons from the wooden dummies, she noted how many had missed and how many hadn't been hit enough times. Only two missed. That was good. She was improving. Her small hands no longer had any trouble holding the sharp metal and her tiny stature was compensated for Keika's jumps to reach higher targets. She pulled fistfuls of senbon and kunai out of eyes and realized just how much she wished that she had the Sharingan instead. Itachi had been lucky in that way. His eyes could turn off.

She left the room as silently as a ghost, having quickly learned that this was how ninja walked to avoid detection and that everyone else in Root walked this way as well. Sometimes it was best to learn to fit in.

The Disk welcomed her with a gust of freezing air that would have made her shudder four months ago on her first day here. Now, it simply made her pace quicken a fraction. Out of curiosity, she glanced down at the bottom on the Disk, intrigued as to what she would find there. But to her disappointment, there was nothing at the bottom, no people, no crates or boxes, just a stone cold floor and something that made Keika feel empty inside.

She walked down the large steps with ease and quickly and quietly made her way to her room in section B. Hopefully, with the war no longer a threat, section E would be re-opened and training outside in the sun and the warmth would become a real possibility. Her eyes lazily passed over the clipboard filled with names and room numbers that marked the entrance to this particular floor of the section. After the battle, there had been a huge reduction in the Root forces. Names had been crossed off that list ever hour as bodies were found and names. Nothing official, of course. Danzo only sent into battle shinobi that wouldn't be 'suspicious' if turned up dead, or so Hitomi-sensei had said.

Was it possible…? No, Keika was sure that she was the only ninja who had been taken from Iwa, her teacher had said so, and it wasn't as if Danzo had stolen kekkei genkai ninja from Konoha proper. He wouldn't have. There was no way. But she still did not completely dismiss the thought because she knew the look in Danzo's eye whenever he caught a glimpse of a powerful new ability that he did not yet have in his collection.

When Keika opened her door, to her delight, her roommate Mitsuo was still in there. The dark haired boy was sitting on the floor in the center of the room, his legs crossed and his wrists resting on his knees, a look of contemplation on his face. Keika hated to disturb his mediation, but she paused for a moment after shutting the door to get his attention.

His plain white eyes cracked open an inch to see what she wanted. Annoyance and impatience flickered across his face and he asked, "Kamiko-san, may I be of assistance?" She was taking up his time, time that he had been spending productively until she had rudely interrupted him, and she knew this.

"Yes, I require your help," Keika said calmly. There had been this new technique that she had been trying, and unfortunately she didn't want to ask her already too busy Hitomi-sensei for help and Keika herself couldn't tell whether or not it worked, "I want you to tell me if you can see a change in my eyes."

Mitsuo stood and gave her a look over, evaluating what exactly she was planning, "Very well."

Keika nodded her thanks and held up her hands into a single seal. This was the henge. Again. She knew that there was no way that she could perform a technique that was a lie, that was impossible for her to do. But she had been thinking about her eyes, about how she had to wear her hair down in public because her eyes had to be kept hidden. If she could change her eyes, even just a tiny bit, then she could go out without her eyes covered, and that, she knew, would raise fewer questions and acquire her less hatred and resentment like from her old town.

The way that she planned this, at least the theory of it, was that it wasn't going to be a lie. She wasn't going to give herself pretty blue eyes like Hitomi-sensei, or those deep hazel eyes of Fushidara-nii-san. All that she was going to do, was going to be a blur. She was going to take the grey mirror and the black swirl and blur them in her mind so that they appeared just plain dark grey. That wasn't a lie, and that was possible.

She slowly gathered minute amounts of chakra to her eyes, willing the iris to be blurred. Come on, just this once. "Henge!" she called out as she finished the technique.

She shuddered as a wave of pain hit her, burning at her eyes and in her mind. And then the pain was gone, and she looked up at Mitsuo, "Did my eyes change?" she asked cautiously.

"Your doujutsu blurred for a moment, and your eyes became a blank grey for a few moments. Then they reverted back," Mitsuo supplied calmly.

Keika sighed. Still needed work, "Thank you for your help. I apologize again for interrupting you." Tired, and thoroughly annoyed, she collapsed onto her bed and shut her eyes tightly, feeling the pain from before drain along with the chakra. She would get it to work. She would. She had to.

* * *

_Thwack!_

Keika brought her leg back down and took a deep breath. Then she slammed her leg once again into the wooden post. This sort of menial training bored her and made her mind draw up the most complicated seal arrays that she possibly could, just so that she could keep her mind from rotting away because of boredom. She knew why she had to do these things, but it was still no fun. Three hundred of this kick, five hundred of this punch, just simple repetition of basic moves designed to improve her form and increase her stamina. Add the wooden post, and it also did wonders for her tolerance of pain.

"Hitomi-sensei?" she asked, kicking her leg into the post once again, "I have been meaning to ask, and please correct me if I overstep my station. That fire technique, the one you used during the… battle, why haven't you taught me that? It looked basic."

It was difficult to read her teacher's emotions when her back was to Hitomi-sensei, but Keika could still gauge the fluctuations in her voice with relative accuracy. That was one of the funny things about Keika's eyes. If she couldn't see someone, but she could hear their voice, then she could pick up tidbits of emotions and intentions. But she was never wrong, either she knew or she didn't, but there weren't any mistakes made with her eyes.

Hitomi-sensei gave the question a long time to vanish into the air before she answered, "It's… an Uchiha traditional technique. We're all taught it at some point, and mastery of it acts as your initiation into the clan. The Gokyaku is the starting point for all of our fire jutsu. We all know it."

Eyes didn't see, but her ears heard and the eyes did their work anyways, "There is something that you're not telling me," Keika said sternly as she kicked again, "I will not repeat your secrets. And you want to get this off your chest."

Her teacher sighed, a deep tired sigh, "You know that… I was never considered an Uchiha. As soon as I was born, and my eyes were blue… they knew that I would never awaken my Sharingan. After that, any achievements of mine, all my hard work, even the praise given to me by my superiors, all of it was practically non-existent to the clan." She was tired, so tired. Her voice carried a deep echo to it that shouldn't be there, because the emotional burden that went with that echo wasn't something that Keika ever wanted to let her teacher bare.

"Because your eyes weren't Sharingan?" Keika asked, still feeling as though she was missing pieces, as though her teacher wasn't telling her everything, "Why would they do that? If you were a powerful shinobi, then why would they continue to ostracize you?" She kicked the post.

There was a weak laugh from Hitomi-sensei, "You've clearly never met one of the Uchiha elders, kid. Even in this day and age, the elders, and a good chunk of the clan, are of the opinion that women should not be shinobi. Of course, we are expected to awaken our eyes, but to gain mastery of it was like an unspoken taboo. Women's eyes were seen as a trait to pass on to their children, not as something that they should dare to use in battle. Most of the women in the clan had their prowess as kunoichi ignored in favor of a promising marriage. Without my eyes, I was nothing. My skills were ignored out of tradition and stupid belief. They never looked at anything besides the lack of Sharingan, and my raw skills were all I had. I could have been a kage or a genin, and it wouldn't have made a difference to the elders."

_Thwack! _

Keika's leg connected with the post. "So if they didn't consider you part of the clan, what happened to you?" She had to know what was it that had made her teacher so alone. Why was Hitomi-sensei so alone? From the looks of what she had seen before, Hitomi-sensei's sister, Mikoto-san, had been happy to see her sister alive and well and held no animosity. So what had happened?

"I was ignored," her teacher said simply, "No inheritance from my father or mother. No quick ascension through the ranks like the rest of the clan. A lot of little things, I suppose. My father would say 'clan business' and then make me leave the room while my five year old brother could stay. I was never taught the Gokyaku," she laughed harshly at this, "I had to sneak around, stealing notes from my brothers and sister about it, try out pointless hand signs in hopes of stumbling across how to perform the technique. My dumb little defiance I suppose."

_Thwack!_

Pressing the issue, Keika continued, now not knowing if she was asking her own questions, or asking the questions that Hitomi-sensei wanted her to ask, "And how did you end up here? Working for Root and Danzo-sama seems like a strange ending to your story."

Her teacher sighed, "Being a shinobi became my life I guess. Jonin, and the ranks prior to that point had all been easy for me, a game instead of the challenge that they were to others. And then… I passed the age where the clan said I should be married. Father wanted me gone, he wanted to get rid of me, and he had hoped that marriage would be the perfect way to do that. When he found that I wanted nothing to do with such a life, he arranged a marriage for me. Some tiny shinobi clan with no special skills or recognition, just a place that my father could shove me and get rid of me."

Keika froze up before she let her leg hit the post, "But that's horrible! That's…" she shuddered as she thought of just how happy her parents would have been to get rid of her, marriage or murder, "That's exactly what my parents would have done. How did you get out of that?"

"It went against the strict rules of the clan for a woman, especially one without status like me, to directly disobey the orders of her father or acting guardian," Hitomi-sensei stated bitterly, "My skills were all I had, and to be forced into a family that I neither wanted nor was ready for was a direct insult to my status as a shinobi. I challenged my father to a fight. All or nothing. I won, and he would allow me to leave freely. He won, and I would be forced to do as he said."

_Thwack!_

"And did you win?" Keika asked hurriedly, the impatience to know bleeding into her voice.

When her teacher replied, her voice lacked energy, lacked vibe, and the sarcasm fell flat and dull, "What do you think?" Hitomi-sensei asked sadly, sounding on the verge of tears, "I was winning, and easily. Then he… he trapped me in a genjutsu. But _nooooo_…" she continued, her voice turning to anger, "That _couldn't_ have been enough for him. He humiliated me publicly, in front of the entire clan. That genjutsu was designed _specifically_ for _me_. It would only work on those _without_ doujutsu, targeting the eyes specifically. He said, 'If you had been of worth, then you wouldn't have failed. The Sharingan is my victory, and it is what makes you worthless.' Then he told me to get out of his sight. I knew that he wanted to marry me off, but I took that as an order and left the clan. I ran until I found Danzo-sama, and I promised that I would never see my father again."

"Kainashi," Keika said slowly, the thought dawning on her in a misty cloud of realization, "They _named_ you 'worthless'?! How cold hearted are they? To name their child something like that?" she gasped, "And your name now…"

Hitomi-sensei turned bitter, "Yes, Danzo-sama was _oh-so clever_ when he thought up _that _one, wasn't he?"

"Beautiful eyes," Keika said sadly, "He made up your new name with the sole intention of taunting you for your failure. Sensei, I am so sor-"

"Spare your pity," Hitomi-sensei barked out, "I don't need it from the likes of you!" She sounded broken, desperate, pained. Like her soul was being torn apart and her mind ripped open. Keika hated to feel that, hated to have to hear the emotion and the pain come into her mind in the form of sound and stay there. She could feel the loneliness as if it were her own, and it had been, back in that town before Fushidara-nii-san. And she hated that loneliness.

_Thwack!_

The post cracked and split in two.


	9. An Odd Mission

**Improbability**

**9**

**An Odd Mission**

* * *

Hitomi slowly clenched and un-clenched her right hand, forming fist after fist and then deciding that physically attacking Danzo would be the stupidest thing that she would have ever done in her entire life. So instead she settled for simply letting her hand twitch as she listened to his demands, "Kamiko is to abandon her training?" she asked, a tone of skepticism lacing her voice.

"I do not know who you decided to have train her outside of Root," Danzo began, his words cold and quiet and deadly, his simple posture as rigid as a battle stance, his single eye glaring at her with barely concealed animosity, "And I did not ask you, because I respected your judgment as a shinobi and as Kamiko's instructor. But if this… teacher… that you have chosen is asking questions about my shinobi, then this teacher is no longer useful. Have her cease this unnecessary and potentially compromising training immediately, and tell whatever lies you must to this teacher of hers. Just sever all contact that Kamiko has with him from now on."

Gritting her teeth together so furiously that it caused her physical pain, Hitomi managed to bow her head to Danzo as she seethed, "I understand. Should I decrease Kamiko's training as well?" Please say yes, she begged silently. If less training time was allowed, then perhaps it would be possible for both the girl to get some sanity in this world that the poor child had been thrown into without her knowing. Hitomi knew what fate would befall Keika if the girl continued to stay in Root. Her only hope right now was to get rid of the blasted seal on her tongue and flee the village. Somewhere along the way her plans had included taking Keika with her.

"No," Danzo said with a small smirk, "Have you been increasing her training steadily over the past three months?" he asked, although it really wasn't that much of a question. They both knew the answer, that Hitomi would do exactly as he said.

She nodded, "I've been increasing her training," her lips flickered into a frown as she recalled one particularly nasty session of training where Kamiko had fallen from the ceiling, unconscious and out of chakra. "But Danzo-sama, I must protest," she spoke up, letting her emotions get the better of her, "I had her on the most intense training imaginable for her age when she first got here, and you've had me make it harder and harder since then. She's only four, it would not surprise me if she simply cracked."

This made Danzo think for a moment, his hand tightening slightly on the handle of his cane, the only sign that he ever gave when nervous or contemplative. For a moment, Hitomi wondered if she had said the wrong thing, or had given him cause to doubt her loyalty to him. Then he spoke, "I will think of a solution around that problem, do not worry about the mental well-being of the child."

The bastard. Hitomi felt the tiny part of her mind that was still 'her', the bit that hadn't been cut off by the seal, burn with an anger that she had almost forgotten she had. Danzo was just going to keep pushing Keika, wasn't he? That was his plan, Hitomi could tell. Shape the kid into the perfect shinobi, rob her of her emotions, and just throw more and more training onto her until she was practically unstoppable, answering only to him. A perfect weapon. Hitomi knew, because many years ago, she had seen the Uchiha clan do that her elder brother. Back then, she had ignored the cruelty. Now, she was determined to fight it with everything that she had. Keika was her way out, her little key to a box of solutions, and all of it centered around those strange and unique eyes of hers. If Keika could just get enough prowess in fuinjutsu, then the seal in Hitomi's mouth would be removed. And then running would suddenly become an option.

Years ago, when Hitomi had first been approached by Danzo, she had not suspected that there was anything illegitimate about his offer, and had in fact trusted him to an extent. But now, there was naught but hatred for him, hatred of what he had done, both to her personally, and to others in general. Perhaps it was not so much what he had specifically done that outraged Hitomi, but his general methods that set her against him. Killing innocent children was something that even tough ninja blanched at, but something that Danzo considered necessary, even expected and acceptable. The man simply had no limits, willing to do anything for what he thought was right. And it seemed as if his definition of right was, for lack of a better word, _wrong_.

Danzo sat down behind his desk and began looking through a stack of scrolls. Almost absentmindedly, he asked, "By the way, how _did_ our little Kamiko perform in the battle? You must have failed to file that report."

Hitomi frowned as she recollected the images from the war, "Poorly. We were stationed in an area with little to no jonin, mostly chunin and below. She could take care of most of the genin, so long as they didn't get close and she could dispatch them with ranged weapons. Any opponent in chunin range was enough to overpower her," she gave Danzo as stern a look as she dared, "It makes sense after all. She only had two weeks to get to genin level, most ninja need years."

His hand twitched slightly, almost unnoticeably as he placed another scroll to the side, "She will not have years. She must become as strong as possible as quickly as possible," then he placed a scroll on the desk in front of Hitomi, "I wish you to take Kamiko on this mission, with the team designated."

Seething on the inside, Hitomi snatched up the scroll and opened it, quickly scanning the contents with growing disbelief. She read it. Then she re-read it. She glanced up at Danzo, feeling more than simple shock at the assigned mission but fury that he would even think of giving them this suicidal death trap of a task, "Danzo-sama, I do not understand," she said as obediently as she could.

He raised an eyebrow, "What confuses you? The mission brief was rather straightforward, was it not?"

This was another bloody test of his, wasn't it?! Hitomi began to list the flaws, "First and foremost, if your intention is to rid Kamiko of her emotional inhibitions, then the team you have given us is entirely wrong. She knows all these people. The team serves no point. Furthermore, I would be the highest ranking member. For such a high ranked mission, it makes no sense to place me, a jonin, a chunin, and a girl barely a genin on the same team," she narrowed her eyes as she locked on to particular location on the page, "And you would send those two _there_? Of all the places possible for a mission? You must know what is happening outside of Hi-no-Kuni at the moment, those two would be in constant danger every second. This mission is a deathtrap!"

Something around Danzo flickered, and suddenly the air in the room became heavy and suffocating as he glared menacingly at her, "Are you criticizing my judgment?" he asked coldly.

"Of course not Danzo-sama," Hitomi replied immediately, bowing her head in respect. He had won. There was seemingly nothing that Danzo could not do, and Hitomi knew that if she actually went so far as to fight him, then she would lose. Badly. There was nothing that she could do about this mission except try to get Danzo to change his mind, "I understand why you are assigning this mission to me and Keika, but I do not understand the reasoning behind the other two. I can't see any value in placing those two on this team,"

At Danzo's amused expression, Hitomi continued, "Please forgive my rudeness, but I cannot understand the reason behind this mission. The chunin will be a hindrance. If he is killed, then you know exactly what they will do to him. Do you wish for one of Konoha's most prominent clans to become enraged at their secrets falling into enemy hands? Because if the boy dies, they will be furious. They will demand an explanation. They will know that there was something sneaky going on behind their backs and if it goes far enough they will turn to the Hokage for an explanation," she paused and drew in another breath, "Kamiko I can protect, at least enough so that she will not be killed. But the boy will simply get in the way and be a liability for this mission. And I cannot see why you would place the jonin with us. Kamiko knows him, and he has no special talents that would qualify for a placement on this team. Danzo-sama, please, I simply do not understand."

He simply looked at her for a moment, a full moment of her wishing that she was dead so that he couldn't kill her painfully for questioning his reasoning. Danzo-sama did not appear particularly angry, instead he held the same look that he used when testing her abilities, waiting for her to guess the right answer and impress him. Well, she was done jumping through loops for him. This mission was nothing short of suicidal, and she needed answers.

After a pause, Danzo finally spoke, "I wish for you to train Kamiko heavily during the course of this mission, every spare moment that you can. Pit her against the chunin boy if you must, for her to gain experience. If the chunin boy gets captured or killed, then you know what you must do to prevent a scandal back in Konoha proper," he paused, and then said slyly, "I really do not care what happens to the jonin. In fact," he said with a tiny smirk, "It might even benefit my little Kamiko if the jonin were to suddenly die in a tragic accident."

* * *

The loud siren jolted Keika out of her less than pleasant slumber, as it did every morning, the same time every day. But this day, she was puzzled. Today was Wednesday. She should have been woken early by Hitomi-sensei so that she could get to Minato-sensei's place in time for her fuinjutsu lessons, as she had last week on the same day. So why hadn't her teacher already woken her up? Was there a change in schedule? If so, why?

Or was she simply over reacting, and this was just a day that Minato-sensei couldn't teach her because he was busy or out on some mission? Either way, she would have appreciated a warning from Hitomi-sensei.

Keika slowly sat up, annoyed at the slight ache in her leg from where she had rolled over on her kunai holster during the night. She went over to the dresser and picked up Mitsuo-san's hairbrush, tugging it through the mess of blond once before pulling her hair back into a bun and fixing it with the senbon that Fushidara-nii-san had given her all those months ago. Hmm… speaking of all the time passed… She turned to Mitsuo-san, who was reading over a note that had been tacked to their door, "Mitsuo-san, do you know what date it is?" she asked.

His eyes didn't even flicker towards her, he just kept reading the letter as he responded, "September 19th," he recited, and then glanced up, "This letter," he said, "You should read it."

Keika blinked. Then she blinked again, "Hey," she said happily, "I'm five." Her birthday had been three days ago. That meant that she was officially a year older! Somehow, this year was different from the others, and not in the way one might assume. Before, she had eagerly counted down the days until the sixteenth, waiting patiently for the say to come when she could add another year to her age. This year, she hadn't noticed until the date had already passed her by.

Mitsuo-san just gave her a strange look as though he didn't really understand what her excitement was for, yet most of his emotions were still covered up by his obvious surprise at the scroll or its details, "Read this," he said, "We have a mission."

A mission.

They had a mission.

"Oh," Keika said blankly. She knew that the event deserved a better response, but she was a little bit surprised and that little surprise led to a lot more shock than she would be prepared to admit to. They had a mission. An honest-to-god actual mission. She wasn't sure if this or her birthday was the better event today.

There was a knock on their door, and after less than a second, the person on the other side apparently decided that they didn't want to wait for a response, and so the door creaked open anyways. Hitomi-sensei stepped inside the room, her eyes twitching in annoyance at coming to fetch them, anger at something unknown or perhaps simply anger at the world, and something else that made Keika a lot more nervous than she should have been. For some reason, Hitomi-sensei was afraid. And anything that made her teacher afraid was enough to chill Keika's blood as well. What could Hitomi-sensei possibly be afraid of? Her teacher was – in Keika's eyes – one of the most powerful people in the world. What was she scared of?

The annoyance flickered in her blue eyes as Hitomi-sensei gave them a once-over and said, "You two have a mission. We are meeting our fourth member outside in a few minutes, so the two of you had best get ready," she turned to Keika, "Kamiko, I have your things already. We're just waiting for Mitsuo." They were going on a mission with Hitomi-sensei? And someone else? Yes, there were squads of fours and threes and they were common numbers as well, but why would they need a fourth member? And while Keika could understand her and Hitomi-sensei on a mission together, she didn't understand why they were taking Mitsuo and someone else with them.

This day was simply getting more and more confusing, although the events at least answered her question about why she wasn't going to Minato-sensei's place today.

Mitsuo-san gave a respectful nod and hurried to the dresser, retrieving a well-used backpack and proceeding to gather clothing and weapons to place inside it. After he had stuffed in multiple weapon packs, three days worth of clothing, and a medical scroll, his hand froze inside the drawer. Confusion and panic spread over his white eyes, and he quickly stuck his head inside the drawer and ran his hands over every inch of wood, "It's not here…" he muttered, worried.

Something flashed across Hitomi-sensei's face, but Keika didn't have time to identify it because it was there and gone too quickly, "What's not there, kid?" Hitomi-sensei asked brashly, not really appearing as though she cared about the answer.

"My notebook…" he muttered, still searching through the drawer, even though he must know by now that there wasn't anything in there that he hadn't already uncovered. It was just that instinct to continue to search even when you knew that you wouldn't find what you were looking for. Mitsuo-san dropped down and looked under the chest of drawers, dragging his hand over every stone, the desperation increasing with each second that he did not find it.

Notebook. Keika remembered his notebook. She had taken it from his drawer, stolen it when she needed ink and paper for her fuinjutsu on that night of fear when her mouth had been sealed. But when she had finished with it… what had she done with it? She hadn't done anything, no, she had passed out and when she had woken up in the morning, Hitomi-sensei had indeed questioned her about it, but she hadn't seen it since. In fact, when she thought back, it had been strange indeed. Mitsuo-san had been out on a mission at that time, not returning for days after she had seen the notebook. But although she hadn't touched it, when she returned from that day of training, the notebook had been nowhere in sight. Could someone else have taken it?

What use would someone have for a notebook filled with a child's drawings?

Unless… it had been for that one drawing of a seal array.

But that was impossible. Only Keika and Hitomi-sensei had known about the seal array and there was no reason for either of them to take it, right? Keika glanced at Hitomi-sensei out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't possible. It simply made no sense.

Hitomi-sensei frowned and a look of both annoyance and that something else came over her, "Listen kid, we do not have all day for you to find a notebook. If it really matters, we can get you another one while we're out on our mission. So get going!" she barked, crossing her arms impatiently.

A flash of sadness and loss flickered over Mitsuo-san's face as he reluctantly fastened his bag shut and slung it across his back. "That will be… acceptable," he said reluctantly. Normally Keika would have been more annoyed at his response, but there was just something so… _lost_ about his expression, like an important piece of himself was missing and he had no idea how to get it back. Keika held her witty remarks back.

The two of them followed along as fast as they could to keep up with Hitomi-sensei's fast pace. Keika felt the annoyance at her teacher's refusal to slow down and at Mitsuo-san's haste to follow orders and please superiors. Especially when they had to climb a long set of stairs at the Disk, and Keika had to practically run to keep up on her legs that were shorter than the others. But for some reason, they weren't making their way to section E, where the outdoor training areas were, they were heading towards one of the doors that lead to Konoha proper.

As they passed over a long walkway that crossed the huge gap of the Disk, Keika looked down just in time to see Danzo turn a corner. He had been watching them leave.

There was something more to this mission. Keika didn't know what, and Danzo was too far away for her to read his emotions, but she could tell that something was wrong with this mission. That, or Danzo was worried, which was something else entirely. Keika wished that she was close enough to see his face, that way she would have an idea of what they were walking into.

But there was no time for that, because Hitomi-sensei was leading them outside and into the bright sunshine that was cut off from the Root base.

Keika stepped above ground for the first time in what felt like years, blinking at the bright light that almost blinded her. The fresh air that she gulped in by the lungful was so different than the cold and dusty air in the base that had seemed as though it was full of stone and damp rot and mildew, blanketed in constant wet and cold by the stone that made up the base. She could feel the grass beneath her feet and the sun in the sky that warmed her with heat that she hadn't felt in too long.

She glanced in the direction of Konoha proper, glad that they were not going in that direction. She still could see the blood and the death and the corpses in her mind, seeing the site where they had laid down and died would be just too much. That was one of Keika's worst problems, she knew. She was too emotional, far too emotional, for a ninja. To be a truly good ninja, she had to lock away her emotions and make sure that they couldn't be used against her. But there really wasn't a good way to do that without cutting out her eyes. Every emotion that she saw, especially the extreme and intense ones, was magnified a thousand times and reflected back at her, pain becoming her own, suffering, fear, panic, terror, all forced onto her own mind. Ripping her apart from the inside.

Hitomi-sensei looked over at the forest to the west, "Oh good. It seems as though our fourth member is arriving. A jonin will be good on this mission." Her voice was oddly hollow, as if reciting words from a script. Keika knew better than to look at her teacher's face to try and get an idea of what the older woman was feeling. Hitomi-sensei was scared of something, and Keika didn't want to feel that kind of fear, not now, certainly not right before she was going to go on a mission.

From the shadow of the nearby forest, a figure stepped out into the clearing by the entrance. He wore the same armor as Hitomi-sensei, right down to the tanto strapped to his back. But there was something about him that looked so familiar, if only Keika could get close enough to see what it was that prodded the corners of her mind and memories. Then he stepped into the sunlight and her whole face lit up in a smile. It had been what… almost a year ago that she thought she had seen him, but he hadn't changed. Still the same messy hair, hazel eyes, and the expression of happiness to see Keika was there as well, completely whole and unrestricted by any seal.

Keika ran up to him, "Fushidara-nii-san!"

A small smile broke out on his face as he dropped to his knees and let Keika fall and stumble into his arms. "It's good to see you as well, Keika," his voice lightly teasing in the way only he could do, he asked, "Or should I call you imouto?"

Keika grinned into his vest, "I like imouto best," she murmured, hugging her big brother for all it was worth. She couldn't believe that they had been apart for so long, family shouldn't be separated, and Fushidara-nii-san was all the family that she had. He was all the family that she needed. He had saved her from Kawagashi, from her birth parents, he had brought her to Root and let her become a ninja and she owed him a great deal. That was what big brothers did, she supposed.

Fushidara-nii-san let her go as he stood. He faced Hitomi-sensei and bowed, "I am Junichi, jonin rank. I assume that I am the fourth squad member for this mission?" his voice was too polite, and Keika was tempted to tell him that Hitomi-sensei didn't like or want the formality, but decided against it. She was learning to hold her tongue.

"Yes," Hitomi-sensei said, giving him a firm nod, "I am Hitomi, ANBU rank, and this is Mitsuo-san, chunin rank. I am also the captain for this mission," she glanced down at Keika and then sighed, "I know that you saved her from that town, and I don't know or care what relationship the two of you have, although I would guess at siblings. However, I ask that you refer to her by her formal name, Kamiko."

Fushidara-nii-san gave a nod, and Keika was guiltily happy to see the dislike of her new name on his face. Then her big brother bowed to Mitsuo-san and the two exchanged a terse and formal greeting. She hoped that everyone would get along on this mission, what with Fushidara-nii-san annoyed at her new name, Mitsuo-san worried at the loss of his notebook, and Hitomi-sensei being…well, Hitomi-sensei. Her teacher may have opened up to Keika a little bit, but Keika had no delusions about that familiarity extending to others. So long as Hitomi-sensei didn't insult anyone, Keika would be fine.

"I am Kamiko's teacher," Hitomi-sensei explained to Fushidara-nii-san, her voice strange and tense, as if they were speaking in a code, "And Mitsuo-san is her roommate. You are her big brother."

What was the point of that? What did that have to do with anything? All that her teacher established was that everyone here had a connection to Keika in some way… oh. There really _was_ something strange about this mission. The team, with everyone having a connection to Keika. Everyone here was only here because of their relationship through Keika, because her big brother didn't know either of them, and Mitsuo-san barely knew Hitomi-sensei outside of a single interaction. So what did that mean? If everyone here was connected to her, then that must mean that this mission was a test or instruction for her and her alone, regardless of what the rest of the group was doing.

Fushidara-nii-san had apparently reached the same conclusion as her, because his eyes lit up for a moment and then darkened at the implications behind this mission, "I see. I was not briefed on the mission parameters, and I think that I speak for the other two as well."

Hitomi-sensei nodded, and her fear escalated, "We are to leave Hi-no-Kuni at once and assist in a series of two assassinations." She swallowed painfully as she explained this, like there was something that she really disliked about this mission. What was going on here?

Frowning, he asked in reply, "Where exactly are we going?"

She replied simply, "Kirigakure."


	10. Deception

**Improbability**

**10**

**Deception**

* * *

Keika couldn't sleep.

It wasn't like how she normally couldn't sleep, when she awoke in the night from nightmares and sounds of death or when she simply stayed up all night with her back to the wall because she was too afraid to even close her eyes. This time she couldn't sleep because she could hear Hitomi-sensei and Fushidara-nii-san arguing.

They had spent the past, oh, more than twenty four hours at a guess, alternating between running and walking to the East. East was where Kirigakure was, or so Keika had been informed. While taking a short break and letting them walk, Hitomi-sensei had briefly explained the geography of the world and the location of the hidden villages. Keika had already known about the five major powers, and she had known the Kusa wasn't one of them, but that was the extent of her knowledge. Apparently each of the major powers had a hidden village, like Konoha, and the ninja that lived there protected the country and it's daimyo in exchange for land and the right to live there.

Kirigakure was the hidden village for Mizu-no-kuni, which was an island country, with the hidden village located on one big island. But even though Hitomi-sensei's lecture had been an awful lot longer than Keika would have thought, there had been nothing in there about Mizu-no-kuni's history, nothing that would cause her teacher and her big brother to argue like this.

"I cannot believe this mission was assigned to our squad," Fushidara-nii-san hissed, as though he was trying to go unheard by Keika. Because she still had her head tucked into her sleeping bag, she couldn't see their faces to get an accurate read on their emotions. But she could still hear snatches of emotion in their words, and Fushidara-nii-san was betrayed and angry as he spoke, "This is a death mission, you cannot have missed that."

Hitomi-sensei sighed, and it sounded as though she added another log to the fire that they were camped around, "I know. I even outright asked Danzo-sama about it, at no small cost to myself. But there must be a reason why we are on this mission, above the obvious goal of completion. I think that he is trying to… help Keika's emotional growth."

That last phrase was worded quite carefully and with much consideration, and Keika wondered what exactly it meant. But most importantly, what exactly was so suicidal about this mission? Hitomi-sensei said that they were to perform a series of assassinations, so was there an issue with their selected targets? As it the fact that she was on this mission? Surely, she was the weakest member on this team, and she knew it all too well, so perhaps Fushidara-nii-san thought it was too high a rank for her to carry out. But Fushidara-nii-san wasn't that cruel as to call her presence suicidal.

"So that is the reason for the formation of such a strange team?" Fushidara-nii-san asked, slightly skeptical, "But how does putting her and her comrade in constant mortal danger help her emotional state?"

There was a slight pause before Hitomi-sensei replied, her voice saddened, "You and I must keep the two under watch at all times, and I think that Danzo-sama expected we would, thus eliminating some of the risk the two present. But… if the boy gets captured or killed, we have orders to prevent the outrage in Konoha proper. I believe you know what that entails, the boy after all, is without the Caged Bird Seal."

Caged Bird Seal? What was that? It wasn't any sort of seal that Keika had heard of before, and the way they were talking, it seemed as though Mitsuo-san was supposed to have it. Did the seal refer to the one that Danzo-sama had placed on her tongue? No, that couldn't be, because she knew that Mitsuo-san still had his, and the two had not mentioned Keika not having hers, so that seal couldn't be the one they were discussing. And what would they have to do if Mitsuo-san got captured or killed?

"Yes, I understand that full well," Fushidara-nii-san said calmly, letting Hitomi-sensei take command again, "I disagree, but it is not my place to argue with Danzo-sama. If he assigned us this mission, he must have had a very good reason, and I trust his judgment."

Keika closed her eyes shut and curled up into the tiniest ball that she could. She didn't like this, not one bit. She trusted her sensei and knew that Hitomi-sensei was always trying to do what she thought to be right. And Hitomi-sensei completely distrusted Danzo, whom she viewed as a stepping stone for more power, for more respect, or simply as a means of survival. So Keika had assumed that she too should distrust Danzo. But now… Fushidara-nii-san wouldn't do anything that would hurt Keika, in just the same way that she wouldn't do anything that would hurt him.

So he must have good reasons for trusting Danzo-sama.

Hitomi-sensei must have been too rash, it was just like her to be hasty and rude and not completely gather all the facts before acting. Keika should trust Danzo-sama. He must have had his reasons for placing the seal on her, he didn't look like someone who would act without complete confidence in the result of his actions. He did after all, allow Keika to remain in Konoha, allow her to get training as a ninja. And in the end, the food that she ate, the clothes on her back, the room that she stayed in, all of it was thanks to Danzo-sama.

Keika too would trust Danzo-sama, if for no reason other than her big brother did the same.

_Fushidara-nii-san, I'm sorry I ever doubted you._

* * *

Danzo observed the list with a calm gaze, smirking slightly as he thought about the implications behind the names given. The mission request from Kirigakure had been from a former ally of his, perhaps not the most important of shinobi at the moment, but she showed a bit of promise, so Danzo was content to exploit what few shared goals they had to his advantage. When he first received the request for aide, he had almost thrown it aside, simply because the chance of success was zero with the forces that he had.

Unfortunately, he always presented himself as far more powerful than he actually was on the rare occasions that he met up with his old ally. It was convenient for her to believe that his forces held the strength of an entire hidden village, but in this case she overestimated him. He knew that the team he sent out on this mission would fail. That didn't matter too much, because it was a perfect time for him to test the new weapon he had, the child Kamiko. And with the designated team, it was the perfect way for him to rid her of any last emotional inhabitations that would hinder her ability to be efficient and ruthless. He could not have his latest weapon be flawed in any way, that would simply be inexcusable for him.

He had to admit, so far she had performed below his expectations, without showing the genius in both battle and tactics that he had hoped for. Oh, she was intelligent all right, that much he could confirm from Hitomi's usual reports, but basic intelligence wasn't something that was acceptable. She could perform well enough in training, and held a record for instant jutsu mastery that was only exceeded by a few, but she tended to fall apart in actual combat. That was explainable by her unique doujutsu. With an eye capable of the most severe emotional reading, it was easy enough to understand why she would have qualms killing or seeing others in pain. And she was still only a child, so it was irrational to expect too much out of her.

But Danzo did not want a weapon that was flawed. A genius that only functioned to such standards when not in battle held no use for him, and if she continued to show that, then there would be nothing left that would make her useful. If she failed what he expected of her, then he would rip out her eyes and throw away the useless body they were connected to.

Eyes like that would be very interesting to experiment on, and Danzo did happen to have an old ally that would be very interested in her eyes. But that extreme would only be taken if Kamiko failed to destroy her emotional limitations. Danzo wouldn't even have to be there in Kiri, or do anything at the time, if things went to plan, she would destroy herself.

Now all that was left was to set up the circumstances perfectly.

The mission requested three assassinations be performed. At first, Danzo had thought that it would be best to only take the first two, placing Kamiko and that jonin on a team for the first one, and Hitomi and the chunin on a team for the second. But the more that he thought about it, there would be no need for him to go so far out of his way to perfect the situation when it had already been perfected. With only a few orders, everything would go exactly how he wanted it.

The first assassination was of a chunin, one without any special skills except for the fact that the man was a heavy supporter of the purist faction. He was vicious and blood thirsty on raids and in battle. The purist faction… Hm… that would be the perfect task for the chunin boy and Kamiko to perform. If things went to plan, the boy would be killed in battle, leaving his opponent weakened and Kamiko alone to fight and seek vengeance for her dead friend. That was all easy enough to arrange, all he had to do would be give more specific orders for the placement and formation of teams.

The second assassination was of a jonin, again not a very important one. Hitomi could wipe the man out easily, and so it made logical sense to place her on that mission. There was no issue with Hitomi at the moment, and so it wasn't very reasonable for Danzo to mess around too much in her relationship with Kamiko when there currently were no problems to fix.

However, the jonin on their team, Junichi, he was a problem. His relationship with Kamiko was too close for Danzo's liking, and Kamiko looked up to him far too much. Besides, he was the perfect target. If he were to die tragically, it would do wonders for removing Kamiko's emotions.

Therefore… Danzo's finger stopped on the third name on the list.

Junichi would perform the third assassination, the one that was doomed to fail. Even though he was a jonin, even though he was a member of Root, there was simply no way that Junichi could kill Yagura.

Especially once Danzo chose to inform the Mizukage of the mission.

* * *

They had been running for two days straight, Hitomi-sensei apparently in a hurry to get to wherever they were going. Yesterday, the four of them had boarded a tiny boat that had dropped them off somewhere covered in mist and surrounded by water.

Hitomi-sensei held up a hand and the other three stopped where they were, "We've arrived at the destination," she said quietly, "Just ahead is the building where the rebel faction has made their base. We are to make contact in just a moment. Before we enter, there are a few… precautions we have to take." She glanced up at Keika and Mitsuo-san with nothing short of complete fear in her eyes, "Kirigakure is in the middle of civil war. This makes it very difficult to enter under normal circumstances as it is…"

"So what is the problem?" Mitsuo-san asked, his wide white eyes reflecting the fear that he too felt. There was something wrong with this mission, there had to be. Nothing else could make Hitomi-sensei so very afraid. Not afraid for herself, no, she was afraid for all of them.

"There is a… bloodline purge," Hitomi-sensei said reluctantly, "Mitsuo-san, I need you to perform a henge to change your appearance. Kamiko… I will place a genjutsu over you enough to change your eyes."

Mitsuo-san nodded seriously and held up a single hand sign. There was a flare of chakra, and then he still looked exactly the same to Keika. She assumed that he must have changed his appearance, or done something to get rid of his obvious doujutsu eyes. What exactly did bloodline purge mean? Did it mean that all those with kekkei genaki were being kicked out of the country, or placed under custody, or removed from active service? Keika had a most horrible feeling that it meant they were murdering them.

What were they doing here? With a team that held two kekkei genaki users? In a country killing off bloodline traits? This mission really was suicide, and now the argument that she overheard a few days ago made sense, clear and perfect sense that made Keika nervous and shaky. She didn't want to get killed. That was something silly to say, because she supposed that no one did. It didn't make it any less true. Keika didn't want to get killed. She had promised Itachi that she would help him get rid of war. She couldn't do that if she was dead.

There was a flare of Hitomi-sensei's chakra that flickered for a moment before settling over Keika's face like an invisible cloak of intangible fabric. Just because she could not see genjutsu did not mean that Keika couldn't feel the physical chakra on her own skin. She disliked the feeling, "Wont they be able to tell that I'm wearing a genjutsu?" she asked her teacher.

Hitomi-sensei bit her lip so hard that a trickle of blood rolled down her lip, and Keika immediately regretted asking because of the pain that it caused her teacher to answer, "I don't know. If our allies are powerful, then they will notice indeed, and we can only hope that they don't ask. In battle… it won't matter."

The unspoken 'if we get caught we're dead either way' hung heavy in the air.

Hitomi-sensei sighed and turned to face another stretch of forest, a thick blanket of mist that seemed so tangible that it would be impossible to even set foot inside it. Perhaps it was really a physical barrier. After all, Keika had no idea of what Kiri ninja were capable of, and a physical barrier or mist would be both a helpful deterrent for those looking for the base, and also enough to steer away those who didn't know that it was there. No one was going to question a cloud of mist in a land that never was free of cloud cover. "We're going," Hitomi-sensei said with the same resigned tone.

And with that, she took a step into the mist, Fushidara-nii-san right behind her. Mitsuo-san and Keika hurried to catch up, trying to find their way in the mist. The mist proved to be as thick as she had originally thought, and even though she was less than a foot away from each of her companions, all she could see of them were blurry outlines. And she knew that it wasn't a genjutsu, or else she would be able to see through it, so it had to be ninjutsu. There was ninjutsu out there this powerful? Was it powered by multiple mist ninja or one very strong one? Either way, she was glad that they were going to be working for them, not against them. Although she wondered who would be strong enough to cause enough trouble for someone this strong that it would require outside help. On second thought, perhaps the safer bet would be on the other side. And for that matter, she still wasn't sure which side they were assisting, the one attempting the bloodline purge, or the one opposing it.

"Stay close together," Hitomi-sensei said firmly as she navigated the mist, "I can sense that there are other shinobi patrolling this area. Get separated, and not only will you not find your way back, but the shinobi will most likely mistake you for an enemy spy and kill you on the spot."

Keika stepped closer to Fushidara-nii-san and tried to sense the other ninja around. It was no use. Either she really was that pathetic of a chakra sensor, of this mist did more than just cover up physical objects. When she tried, she could barely sense the chakra signatures of her teammates, even though she had memorized their chakra signatures and could normally pick them up in a crowd of others with ease. If it was capable of hiding chakra signatures, then this mist cover jutsu could most likely double as a very effective technique for assassinations.

Fushidara-nii-san held her hand, his warm skin a comfort in the cold and wet mist. Keika allowed some of her stress to vanish as she tightened her grip on his hand. That was right, she could and would face down any ninja if it was for the same of her big brother. For Fushidara-nii-san's sake, there was nothing that she wouldn't do.

The four of them walked in tense and nervous silence for a while, blindly navigating in the mist. Then apparently the observing shinobi decided that it was time to do something.

The mist around them was suddenly swept away, leaving a small clearing in which the four of them stood. Keika could now see her comrades with ease, but outside of the small circle of clear, things were still as shrouded in mist as ever. She took a step closer to Fushidara-nii-san. Even she, the youngest and least experienced in the group could tell that something major was about to happen.

Then four ninja dropped down onto the grass in front of them.

Three stood behind the fourth like fearsome bodyguards, and Keika instinctively took a step back. She didn't want to get on the bad side of these people.

The one farthest to the left was a woman, long dark red hair and a pin-striped long sleeved shirt with a black obi. She had Kiri hitai-ate tied to her forehead, bandages wrapped around her neck, and her blood-thirsty grin revealed sharp and pointy teeth. Two long thin blades were strapped to her back. The second figure was a small boy, very young and thin with short blue hair and square-rimmed glasses. On his back was a large sword, easily the same size as the boy, flat and wrapped up in bandages with two handles protruding from the top. To Keika's growing curiosity, he also had the same pointy teeth as the woman.

The tallest in the group was a man, dark skinned and muscular, dressed only in pants and arm warmers, with a thick strap across his chest. He had short dark hair, and his mouth was covered in bandages, his Kiri forehead protector tilted to the side. On his back was a huge blade, long and sharp, with a single hole in it and a semi-circular section removed.

In the front of the group was a woman, one that quite intrigued Keika. She wore a blue dress and had long and spiky orange hair. But her eyes held the most piercing confidence, and she simply had this look that conveyed 'piss me off and you will die'. But if she killed you, Keika was pretty sure that she would be smiling at the same time the blood was spilled. She was the only one who didn't wear a forehead protector, but it was in the same way that Danzo-sama didn't wear a Konoha hitai-ate. She was so high ranked that she didn't need to. Everyone already knew what side she was on and there was no need for her to declare it.

Hitomi-sensei held up a scroll, her face not betraying any of the calm panic that she was feeling, "We are the shinobi you sent for. Danzo-sama instructed us to come here. This is the mission scroll, as well as photo IDs that will confirm we are who we say we are," she said diplomatically, taking a step forward before placing the scroll on the ground and backing away.

The leader of the other ninja, the orange-haired woman, walked forward and picked up the scroll casually, even though her eyes showed extreme caution in her simplest of actions. No one really acted how they thought here, Keika noticed. The woman quickly scanned the scroll and was still reading it over when she said casually, "And if you would please remove the genjutsu, that would be most appreciated."

Hitomi-sensei sighed and held up her hands, "Unfortunately I cannot. Our two youngest are against the current regime in Kirigakure for the same reason that you yourself are, and showing the true appearance of them would be a great risk to the mission and their lives. Pleas trust me when I say that the only changes made were to their eyes." She was playing on thin ice, because if that woman decided that she didn't believe her, things would go to hell in a hen basket very quickly.

The woman simply raised an eyebrow and rolled up the scroll, while a thousand different emotions flickered over her eyes. There was a moment to distrust followed by a moment of belief and then understanding and then resentment and then resignation and then acceptance finally settled over her face. It was making Keika a bit light headed following all her emotions at once while still trying to keep her doujutsu trained on the three bodyguards while making sure that there weren't any other ninja in the area about to sneak up behind them and kill them. Some days Keika really hated her eyes.

"I see," the woman said simply, tossing the scroll back to Hitomi-sensei who caught it with ease, "In that case, I welcome you to our main base of operations. I am Terumi Mei, and these are the three members of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū that we have managed to get on our side, Ringo, Chojuro, and Zabuza. Pleasure to meet you all."

The three swordsmen bowed, with much reluctance. Mei gave Hitomi-sensei a look, "And to know your names would be fabulous as well."

Hitomi-sensei nodded her head and said diplomatically, "I am Hitomi, this is Junichi, a jonin, Mitsuo, a chunin, and Kamiko, a genin. I am the squad leader for this mission."

"A genin?" Mei questioned with a frown, her eyes immediately darting to Keika with confusion and distrust in her eyes. Not as though she distrusted Keika, but more like she wasn't sure why Keika was here or what hidden powers she possessed. Keika looked away from her eyes because the flow of emotions was too much. In a sick and morbid way, she missed the lack of emotion that was ever present at the Root base. It was easier for her to deal with.

Mei smiled slyly as she regarded Keika, "Must be one hell of a gekkei genkai. I look forward to seeing it in action," her eyes flickered up to Hitomi-sensei as she said, "Please follow me, I will show you to our base where I will brief you on the details of your mission."

As they were led away into the mist, Keika was only sure of one thing. She had gained Terumi Mei's attention, and she wasn't sure that was a good thing.

* * *

"These are the latest blood samples, as well as her most recent physical exam reports," Danzo said casually as he handed over the extremely classified information without a thought. He trusted this man, at least enough to get the required job done.

The man chuckled, "Well well, you've really picked up something special here, haven't you? Where ever did you find such a kekkei genkai?"

"Some village in Kusa," Danzo replied, "She wasn't undergoing any official shinobi training, but one of my men happened to be in the area and happened to become interested in the child's unusual abilities. My good luck, it would seem. I also want you to find out as much as you can about her family tree. It would be very intriguing if she turned out to be related to the Uchiha or the Hyuuga."

The man looked up from the reports and remarked coldly, "What a fascinating mix of genetics that would be. And easier to re-create. I admit, I am rather disappointed that I wasn't the one to make that breakthrough."

Danzo paused and narrowed his gaze, "However, the girl is my shinobi now. I want you to create a perfect panel of bio-identical drugs to increase her mental capacity as well as her physical performance and chakra levels. What I standardly use is not getting the results I want. Any information that you may need for this project is at your disposal, anything short of you actually experimenting on the girl herself."

"Don't you trust my methods?" the man asked.

"Not when I don't want the subject harmed, I don't," Danzo retorted smoothly, "Besides, she is still a child and I want to make sure that her mental state is perfect before I send her on more high-priority missions. Any of your experiments could ruin that."

The man gave a resigned shrug and dropped the subject, "Shame. I could have gotten the best of results in only a few minutes you know," at Danzo's glare, he changed his topic, "The drugs should be ready in a few days, this sort of thing is as easy as it is fun. And in return?"

"I'll let you try out your drugs on my little faux-Uchiha," Danzo confirmed, "Do your job well and I'll do mine, Orochimaru."


	11. Suicide Mission

**Improbability**

**11**

**Suicide Mission**

* * *

Hitomi frowned as she picked up the scroll. Her team – if she could call them that – had been staying in the anti-purist faction's base for almost three days now, and there had been no news from Danzo or from Terumi-sama about their intended targets. Of course Hitomi already knew how these things would pan out, with her and the Hyuuga boy taking on the jonin and Junichi and Keika taking the chunin target. Danzo hadn't accepted the third target as a legitimate mission, as that would be considered an attempt of war, as well as a suicide mission that was sure to fail.

But the few days had gone by slowly, with Hitomi spending each day training Keika and occasionally having the Hyuuga boy spar against her for a change. While she wasn't exactly against spending quality time with her student, she knew that Keika had spent every moment since coming here in the company of her self-proclaimed big brother. He apparently felt the same way about her, and joined Hitomi in teaching when he was free. If Hitomi were a sappier person, she might admit that she was getting fond of the familial atmosphere that had settled around her team. Even the Hyuuga boy was becoming more and more relaxed, although that might have been because of Keika presenting him with a brand-new sketchbook the other day.

This scroll was curious. It was making Hitomi nervous.

Marked like a customary mission scroll from Root, it had been delivered by a top priority message hawk from Konoha proper, not from the usual Root base. Which meant that Danzo, or someone high ranked enough to know what was going on with their mission, had pulled some serious strings to make sure that this got here in time. So mission orders it was. But why? There was no need to assign extra orders. Everything had already been working out perfectly, and no one had even asked Keika or the Hyuuga boy about their hiding of their appearances. Danzo was going to ruin things again, how predictable. What could he possibly do in this situation? Order Junichi to stab himself dramatically?

Hitomi scoffed as she unrolled the scroll and read its contents.

Then she read it again.

And again.

"The order to- to-" she coughed as the seal on her throat took effect, and she was forced to change her thoughts and words away from the taboo topic, "God damn it all!" she swore, her hands clenching tightly around the scroll.

These orders were-! And to think that she had thought the simple act of sending them to Kirigakure was enough to kill them, then she had thought wrong. She had known that Danzo was sending the Hyuuga boy to his death by sending him here, and she had suspected to a certain degree that her leader wished for the same fate to befall Junichi, but this… Of course, while making it so that the Hyuuga boy died was a simple task, killing off Junichi required more specific circumstances. This wasn't even sly anymore, this was an outright order to die.

"What does the scroll say?" Terumi Mei-sama said loftily as she observed Hitomi's internal struggle with the calm air of a simple observer.

And that Mizukage wannabe, while Hitomi was in agreement with her claim to the hat, was not on Hitomi's side. Terumi-sama, no _Terumi_, was in agreement with Danzo, that had been her whole reason for sending him the mission scroll, so that meant that she was on his side, and if she was on his side, then she was not on Hitomi's side. "I'm sure you already know," Hitomi said scathingly, glaring at the redhead who was lounging casually against the door frame.

Terumi raised an eyebrow, "Actually, I don't," she replied casually, although her eyes glinted with the look of someone curious, "Care to enlighten me?"

What? Why wouldn't she know if she was on Danzo's side. Unless, not even he trusted her enough to share this information because he knew that it would reek of foul play and direct murder. Every leader of any village or group anywhere would agree that sometimes suicide missions were the only option, but only in dire circumstances, and not ones that would achieve nothing, such as this one. "Your _boss_ has decided to accept the third target," Hitomi spat.

Surprise flickered over Terumi's face as she took in this new information, surprise that quickly turned to anger, "For one thing, Danzo is not my boss. I do not work for him, nor am I in support of his methods or ideals or goals. And another question. If he accepted the third target, then who is he sending to kill Yagura?"

So she didn't work for Danzo? Did that just mean that she was using him to help her with difficult missions? Well then, her and Hitomi might get along better than first thought. Common enemy after all. "Danzo is not sending anyone else. He assigned one of us to the task."

Terumi's face paled slightly as she considered the implications behind that. Of course, if there was any hope at killing Yagura, another kage level ninja would have to be sent to perform the task, someone with the skill of Danzo or the Yondaime Hokage. "But that means…" Terumi muttered, before she demanded, "Why on earth would Danzo wish to kill the jonin of your party?"

Hitomi narrowed her eyes, "Why do you assume that it is the jonin?" she asked carefully. Perhaps she had been wrong when she assumed that Terumi was in the dark in Danzo's planning.

She waved her hand dismissively, "It was obvious. At first I considered that it would be Hyuuga Mitsuo, but Danzo has always had a strange fascination with bloodlines, and I would guess that he still has his uses for a Hyuuga," she glanced at Hitomi, "The girl was obviously not it. A genin on this high profile a mission is obvious a prodigy or genius of sort, that and a bloodline that I have no idea of immediately takes her out of the death mission pool. As I said, Danzo has always had a strange fascination with bloodlines, and since she is obviously not Uchiha or Hyuuga, that makes her a puzzle to him. As for you," she paused, "Well, I know more about you than you might think, Uchiha Kainashi. Danzo would hate to lose a research subject. Therefore, the jonin, Junichi."

Hitomi tried and failed to stop herself from wincing at the sound of her former name, "Impressive deduction, and yes, you are quite correct," she sighed, "Kamiko… no, Keika, is Danzo's latest project, if you will. He is trying to… further her emotional state by having Junichi, or as she calls him, Fushidara-nii-san, die tragically in battle."

"And you're actually going to follow through with these orders?" Terumi demanded, as outraged by the idea as Hitomi was, "Even us, even though we're at war and members of our faction die every day, we haven't sent anyone on a death mission because we have rules that state that no one is to be left behind! If your teammate cannot walk then you carry him, and you except that he would do the same for you! It goes against our deepest laws to send shinobi on pointless suicide missions! How dare Konoha, with all their preaching about their methods and their peace, do such a thing!?"

"I have to follow Danzo's orders, not by choice but by force! You have no idea what it's like to be a member of Root and bare the tattoo of servitude!" Hitomi raged at her, "_Konoha_ is based on the idea of teamwork and of course I too respect and uphold that policy wherever I can! I simply cannot disobey orders, you have no idea the things that I have been forced to do and what I will be forced to do! And at least Konoha doesn't force their children to fight to the death to graduate! You have no right to preach ideals to me!"

"I am against that practice, and I am working and risking my life every day so that practices such as those can be abolished!" Terumi yelled furiously, "At least I am actively opposing a tyrants rule! Oh, it's all good and well to obey direct orders if Danzo takes such barbaric measures like sealing, but have you ever considered indirectly undermining him?! What have you done to fight for your ideals!?"

"I let Keika remove the seal!" Hitomi screamed breathlessly, furious, angry beyond belief, and now she was out of verbal ammunition to throw at her.

Terumi looked puzzled as she froze, "What? Keika… the girl managed to remove an S-ranked secrecy and emotional lock seal?" she paused as her mind looked as though a thousand thoughts ran through it in a moment, "I've _seen _that seal, it can't be removed by any means that I know of, how on earth did a young genin girl remove it?"

An exhausted sigh fluttered out of Hitomi's lips as she sat down on the cold stone steps, "I don't know myself. And that's not even it at all. When she did that, she had only had one day of shinobi training in her whole life and not a single moment of fuinjutsu training. It's her eyes, somehow they help her understand things better… emotions… fuinjutsu… even chakra flow at times."

"Exactly what kekkai genkai does she have?" Terumi asked, awestruck.

Hitomi shrugged, "I don't know. No one does. It's undiscovered. I know that it isn't the byakugan or the sharingan, and from what I've read, it isn't the legendary rinnegan, and those are all the doujutsu that I have ever heard of," she paused and glanced up at Terumi, "Have you ever heard of another doujutsu?"

"No, I've never heard of another," Terumi whispered, "What do you mean by seeing emotions?"

"She describes it as… seeing the 'truth'," Hitomi said quietly, thinking about what little the girl had shared on the subject of her eyes, "She says that she can see when people are happy or sad or such, but to greater detail and depth than even the person themselves is aware of. She can see the difference between lies and truth, but it's _deeper_ than that. She can tell when people are hiding things or when they are avoiding a subject. And to some degree… she experiences the same emotions that she sees."

Terumi bit her lip and her gaze fell to the icy cold floor of the base, "Do you know if the child can… still see these emotions on the dead?"

Nodding sadly, Hitomi commented, "She has not been the same since Danzo forced her into the battle for Konoha many months ago."

"The poor child," Terumi said with a sigh, "Of all the career options, she just had to get dragged into being a shinobi with eyes like those. Although I suppose it must not be all bad. Tell me more about what you said earlier, fuinjutsu and chakra flow."

"I myself have never studied fuinjutsu, so I'm not sure how it really works," Hitomi began, "But from what she has told me, she can read seals as if one would read a sentence. And as for the chakra component, well, I'm still unsure as to whether or not it is a disadvantage. She cannot see genjutsu or be affected by it, like her eyes simply write it off as a 'lie' and do not perceive it as real. The same with henge and every bunshin save the kage bunshin. However, there is a tradeoff. She cannot perform any of those ninjutsu either."

"How very fascinating," Terumi commented, perplexed yet oh so very intrigued, "A double edged sword, if you will."

Hitomi shook her head, "No. If her kekkei genkai is a blade, then I am sure that one side is sharper. I just am not sure yet which side that is."

Terumi straightened up and dusted off her hands, "Well, as to the matter of the jonin," she smiled, "I'm sure there will be something we can do," she gave Hitomi a look, "You needn't worry. I also have become far too interested in Keika to let her pass by me without doing anything."

* * *

In the few moments of rest and peace that they had, what with the ferocious training that Hitomi-sensei had thrown her into and the menial tasks they had been assigned to do leaving them little time for rest, Keika preferred to spend her time with Fushidara-nii-san. It wasn't really like she would try to get him to play with her, although for some reason she was sure that a few months ago she would have loved to play with him. They just sort of hung out together. He would read a book normally, and she would doodle complicated designs that generally led to small discoveries about fuinjutsu, and the pleasant silence was good enough.

Right now, she was sitting on her big brother's bunk bed, her legs lucked to her chest, leaning against his back while her pencil scratched on over a page in her notebook. She had gotten the notebook at the same time she got Mitsuo-san his new one, and she was spending rather a lot of time filling the pages. Right now she was puzzling over the advantages of five point sealing when involving an individual person or single chakra matrix. Using the five-point star as a basic background for most sealing arrays was proving to be very helpful, as the five points each represented one chakra nature, so they were very versatile when applied to the chakra's of different people. She paused, thought for a moment, and then erased a mark before adding a kanji to the page.

"Fushidara-nii-san?" she asked, hoping not to disturb him.

She could feel his head tilt upwards and away from the book, "Yes, imouto?" he asked, in that curious yet caring voice that made Keika almost regret what she was about to ask him. But she wasn't naïve anymore, and she wanted to get answers.

"Why… why did you decide to take me back to Konoha with you?" her voice came out quieter than she would have liked, little more than a nervous and self-conscious whisper. But she had to know. She honestly wanted to know why her beloved big brother decided to take a little girl with no talent that he didn't know back to a ninja village where she would be branded and forcibly turned into a killer and forced onto a battlefield.

He sighed, and there was the slight flinch in his muscles that Keika knew meant he had just winced, if only at a mental pain, not a physical one. When he spoke, there was a depth and size to his voice that Keika hadn't heard from him before, a depth that was filled with loneliness and emptiness and pain and confusion and a wanting to end the loneliness, "Because… I suppose I saw talent in you. I saw what you had already learned to do, the throwing rocks at the pole, how you walked silently on gravel, how you saw through my henge. Then I saw your eyes and I thought that a ninja village was the right place for you to learn and live in," he paused, "But I think… that when I saw how you were all by yourself… I thought that maybe… that I would not have to be alone anymore."

Yes. Loneliness was perhaps the worst part of being a ninja. Keika knew what it was like to not have any friends that she could play with or that were her own age, and she knew that it must be awful in an organization that basically banned emotion or social interaction beyond that of a mission. "It's okay, nii-san," she said, wrapping her too small arms around his torso, "You're not alone anymore."

She felt his arm close awkwardly around her as he patted down her messy hair, "Yes, I suppose I am not," he said quietly, the idea new and wondrous and echoing in his voice, "I am glad that I have you here with me, imouto."

"So am I," she replied, her voice muffled by his shirt. She really was glad that he was here too. Somehow, the blood and the death and the killing and the burned-in images of war were all made a little more bearable when Fushidara-nii-san was around to tell Keika that she did a good job and that he was proud of her. She would even trust in Danzo-sama as long as that was what he thought was the right thing to do.

There was a clanging coming from the door, and then Hitomi-sensei burst into the room, Mitsuo-san following at her heels.

Keika could immediately tell that something was both very wrong and very right at the same time and she wasn't sure exactly how that had happened. The emotions on her teacher's face were too complicated and too jumbled for her to see clearly at first glance, but when Keika stared, Hitomi-sensei gave her a stern look that promptly told Keika off. She looked away from her teacher's eyes.

Fushidara-nii-san straightened up and said with uncharacteristic seriousness, his face turning blank, "What has happened, taichou?" he asked, confused by Hitomi-sensei's obvious distress.

"I have gathered you all here to tell you something important," Hitomi-sensei informed them, keeping her face blank to the rest and still a chaotic whirl to Keika, although sadness and regret and resentment were winning out, "There has been a change in the mission plans."

"What does that mean?" Mitsuo-san asked, as confused as the rest of them by this sudden change.

What did a change of plans mean? Their mission was pretty straight forward, no? Really, how complicated could two assassinations get? "Sensei, what change could possibly have been made?" she asked, confused.

Hitomi-sensei turned away from them, as if she was ashamed to show her face, "There were three assassination requests," she said quietly, her voice betraying little to no emotion, and with Keika unable to see her face, there was no way for her to understand what was going on, "We originally only were to take the first two, but we have now been assigned to the third as well. Mitsuo and Kamiko will perform the first, I will perform the second, and," her voice seemed to break as she gave the final command, "Junichi will perform the third."

What did that mean? Why was that so extreme, why did that make Hitomi-sensei so sad and so angry at the same time, how could a simple change in targets merit such a reaction? All it meant was that Fushidara-nii-san would be taking care of an assassination by himself, but that would hardly matter, as her big brother was jonin rank anyways so he was pretty strong. Keika didn't see the importance that this change held to Hitomi-sensei. It wasn't that big a deal.

Then she looked up at Fushidara-nii-san and her thoughts stopped.

He was frozen in fear, the terror pouring over him in thick heavy waves that threatened to drown him in their intensity. This wasn't even limited to his eyes ad Keika didn't have to look deep to sense the emotions, the fear was plain across his face. His body was shaking, his eyes wide and open in fear and horror and there was betrayal in there as well, betrayal mixed in with anger and sadness and sheer terror and the knowledge that although it wasn't his fault, he would have to bear the repercussions anyways.

Keika didn't understand. What had happened to make her big brother so heartbreakingly terrified for his life? What had happened to make him one of the dead thing's faces from the war?

"What," he said, his voice little more than a choked whisper or breath of air, and it wasn't a question, because to pose a question required a better grasp of consciousness than what he had at the moment.

Hitomi-sensei paused at the doorway, "I just spent the past few minutes arguing about this with Terumi-sama. Don't make me argue with you as well," her voice sounded pained, "I am sorry." Then she left the room.

Terumi-sama had done this to Fushidara-nii-san?! Despite the fact that the woman was clearly at least jonin level, despite the fact that she was obviously a kekkei genaki user, despite the fact that she had a whole faction of followers behind, Keika was going to make her pay.

She would make anyone pay for hurting her big brother.


	12. Loss of Life

**Improbability**

**12**

**Loss of Life**

* * *

"This is going to be easy," Zabuza-san said quietly with a sick sort of excitement for the upcoming battle, waiting with a grin for the bloodshed, "Most of these jokers aren't even in my bingo book. Piece of cake."

Ringo-san gave him a deathly scowl that left none of her displeasure hidden from view, "Shut it, Momochi," she growled under her breath, "Not only is your ego annoying as hell, but you'll blow our cover, you bastard. So keep your damn mouth closed, got it?"

Keika ignored the two bickering and tried to calm her breathing, which was strangely difficult. She was feeling oddly nervous and twitchy. Her mind just kept straying to Fushidara-nii-san and his target. Apparently Terumi had been planning this assault for a while now, a few weeks of planning that had only one fatal flaw. The number of men that she had was not enough for a mission of this rank and caliber. The civil war in Kirigakure had only been going on for about four months, ever since the Mizukage declared bloodline users to be demons in disguise. As such, the rebel faction hadn't been able to make the recruitments needed in time for this planned assault.

And that, she supposed, was where Root came into the equation. With the addition of an extra team, there would be enough members for a hit-and-run type of job. She had listened to Terumi explain quite a few times, getting the feel of the mission burned nice and deep into her brain, even if she did despise the woman for making Fushidara-nii-san scared. Keika and Mitsuo were going to join the three swordsman, while Terumi, Hitomi-sensei, and a few Kiri jonin went as a second team. Keika's team was going to take out two teams of enemy shinobi from the anti-bloodline faction.

It was planned out quite neatly. Keika never understood the neatness of mission plans. Things always got a lot more bloody when they were actualized.

On the two enemy teams, there were three jonin, two genin, and three chunin. They were delivering coded messages to a base on the other side of the island. Keika's team was supposed to take out the shinobi and retrieve the messages, preferably without too much of a delay. Technically, because Terumi had snuck in the request for help labeled as an assassination, Keika and Mitsuo were only supposed to kill one of the chunin. But in reality, they would probably be taking out all of the genin as well. None of the swordsmen seemed as though they could be bothered. Well, except maybe Chojuro-san, because he was not as arrogant as the other two, honestly believing that he was not as powerful as he actually was. Keika could tell.

At the same time as Keika's mission, Hitomi-sensei would be preforming her mission as well. Her and Terumi were taking out a team of four jonin that were following Keika's target as a guard squad. Keika was unworried for them, Hitomi-sensei and Terumi were both very strong and taking out four jonin would be easy for the two of them, with or without back up.

It was Fushidara-nii-san that she was worried about. Somehow, word had got leaked to Yagura – Keika still was unsure whether or not this Yagura person was actually the Mizukage – about the Root reinforcements and so the time table had to be sped up. Fushidara-nii-san was to assassinate Yagura at the same time as the operation here, even though the original plan had been to send a squad out with him a week later. So Keika was holding her breathing and hoping that her big brother made it back safely.

She couldn't hear Mitsuo even breathe, he was that silent, perched on a thick tree limb right next to Keika. He held no fear in his eyes, if only a small amount of apprehension. That was strangely comforting, not having to see strong emotions and only a sense of duty. How refreshing, compared to the erratic and loud emotions of the Kiri shinobi that tended to practically scream in Keika's mind and distract her at times.

"Just to ask," Mitsuo inquired, his voice practically a whisper of tightly wound anxiety and nerves, "Have you ever actually been on a mission before?"

Keika didn't have to pause, because she had no mission record, "No. Unless you count when Konoha was attacked." Huh, she didn't even stutter when she mentioned the hell. Maybe she really was getting better. Of course, she wasn't going to check a mirror to make sure. She didn't really like mirrors anymore.

"You two Konoha brats," Zabuza-san snapped at them, a spark of playful annoyance in his eye that vaguely reminded Keika of how a particularly sadistic owner would look at their prized pet, "Shut it. You're gonna get us caught."

Mitsuo nodded and turned back to face the stretch of road that was paved out beneath their tree perch. He gave in to authority too easily, Keika thought. Then again, it wasn't that simple. Hitomi-sensei always obeyed Danzo-sama's orders, despite the fact that she seemed to distrust and even hate the man, as well as undermine him whenever it didn't contradict a direct order. Keika supposed that it was simply breed into Root shinobi to obey orders more than it was for other villages or other organizations. It must have something to do with the training. It couldn't have been the seal, because, although Keika had only ever seen her own, she knew that all it did was prevent information about Root and Danzo-sama from being spoken about and blocked base emotions. She still wasn't sure what she thought about that practice, in the same way that she still wasn't sure what she thought about Root itself.

But in the end, all her mental debates ended in the same way. Fushidara-nii-san must have known about the seal, he probably had one himself and knew that all the recruits got one. Fushidara-nii-san knew about Danzo-sama's training methods. Fushidara-nii-san was a member of Root and he knew exactly how they operated and had been part of those operations and he had still decided that it was the right thing to bring Keika here. And Keika agreed with him. Her home, if she could call it that, had been horrible every second that she had lived there. Disputable methods, maybe, Root was still better than back there.

Also, when it came down to the simple facts, Keika trusted Fushidara-nii-san absolutely. He had never lied to her. He had never hidden things from her. He had saved her. If he thought that Root and Danzo-sama were to be trusted, then Keika would trust Root and Danzo-sama as well.

Chojuro-san flickered in quickly to land in front of them, perched lightly and soundlessly on a branch. He had been the scout, farther up ahead of them to watch for the incoming targets. He lifted his head and Keika frowned when she saw the surprise and fear in his eyes. What had happened?

"There's two teams of jonin traveling with them!" he whispered hurriedly, his voice wavering from the surprise of knowing that their enemy was larger than expected- larger than they had prepared, "They knew we were coming!"

Waves of barely controllable anger rolled off of Zabuza-san, "Well well," he said, his voice snapping like a steel trap, "It seems as though our side has a little mouse," then he grinned, a dark sadistic grin that scared Keika because he wasn't putting on airs and was honestly happy to think of the upcoming slaughter, "No matter. Just makes it more fun for us," he glanced over at Keika and Mitsuo, "And more challenging for the help. Me and Ringo-chan'll take the spare teams, Chojuro'll get the original jonin, and the help can get the chunin and the genin. We move _now._"

Sadistic bastard maybe, but never let it be said that Zabuza-san couldn't make a decent plan spur of the moment.

Mitsuo nodded to her, a silent confirmation that told her that he would follow these new orders and that she – who defaulted to follow him – would also obey. In a flash, they leapt through the trees to follow the mist jonin.

This was becoming a mess.

If their well thought out and carefully crafted plan had failed, that meant that she and Mitsuo were in over their heads. She wasn't going to underestimate her and her teammate, however she did hold a realistic assessment of their capabilities. And taking out two genin and three chunin, one of which who happened to be particularly bloodthirsty was stretching their limits. Also, although she would never admit it to anyone, Keika knew that she performed badly on the field when compared to her results in training. The emotions always got to her and made her falter.

She couldn't falter this time. She had to be strong. She couldn't let herself disappoint Fushidara-nii-san.

Up ahead, she could feel the chakra signatures of their enemies. Fourteen ninja. The majority of which were jonin. No wonder Chojuro-san had been scared.

Keika was scared too.

As they drew closer to their enemy group, Keika grew more and more nervous. She couldn't do this.

Zabuza-san held up a hand and all five of them landed on a branch, looking down at the group that traveled beneath them. Fourteen ninja. They would be found out in less than a minute, the jonin would discover them soon and they had to initiate the fight to get an advantage.

Keika's eyes honed in on each member of the group, only doing a quick physical analysis to determine who she was supposed to fight, not allowing her gaze to hold for fear of getting too deep an emotional read on any of the ninja that she would soon have to kill. With an unspoken exchange of looks between her and Mitsuo, it was determined that he would take the chunin while she would take down the two genin, then they would re-group for their assigned target of assassination.

The genin stuck out in the company of jonin like two very sore thumbs, pinpricks of weak chakra in a sea of massive power signals. Only a boy and a girl, about ten to twelve years, looking nervous and confused as to why they had such a heavy guard. Keika blinked and let herself re-focus. They looked pretty weak. Easy targets. The hardest part of this would be to stay out of the swordsmen's way.

Then Zabuza-san's hand flinched and they descended from the trees.

It took the enemy jonin less than a second to react to their arrival and even less time to spring into action. Three swordsmen against nine jonin.

The clashing of steel on steel and the roar of jutsu and chakra filled Keika's ears until she could hear nothing else. Mitsuo grabbed her wrist and they ran away from the huge battle taking place in the clearing behind them.

The chunin and genin that they had been tracking had had the same thought, and the two groups turned away from the fight and vanished into the forest.

Keika and Mitsuo jumped into the branches above the enemy, taking the higher ground advantage before it could be taken from them. The sounds of the jonin fight were getting more and more quiet as they moved farther away. The enemy was obviously trying to either outrun them or lead them to an area rigged with traps. Seeing as how there hadn't been any warning for the fight, Keika guessed that it was the former option. They were running away.

From down below, they could hear one of the ninja, the genin girl ask one of the chunin, "What's going on! I thought this was a delivery mission!" Keika flinched at the sound of the girls voice, because she sounded so sincere and innocent and disbelieving, and well… she sounded like a good kid who really just got caught up in the wrong mission.

The chunin that she had talked to turned his head, and with a jolt Keika realized that he was their assassination target, "We got jumped!" he barked in reply, annoyance flickering over his face at the mention of the attack, "Don't turn round, that fight is above us!"

"But who were they!?" another of the genin, the boy this time asked.

A different chunin replied this time, he voice deeper and steadier, "Members of the rebel faction. Part of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. The guard teams stayed behind to take care of them," he sounded like he was frowning as he added, "But who's tailing us?"

Keika didn't care to add the fact that they could hear the whole conversation, even at twenty meters back.

She simply cast her eyes towards Mitsuo for instructions. Quickly, using gestures similar to hand signs, he used the standard Root sign language to convey orders. Mistuo would jump down and take out the two chunin, Keika would use her thrown weapons to kill the genin, and then they would converge to take down their official target. Simple and easy.

Mitsuo held up three fingers. Then two. One.

He jumped down and immediately slammed his palm into the back of the first chunin, an explosion of bright blue chakra causing the enemy to fall to the ground in an instant.

Keika reached into her weapon holster and threw a handful of chakra enhanced kunai at the genin boy, hitting his neck and brain. Two down. Three left.

The rest of the group turned and realized that they were under attack too late, because two of their number were already killed.

The two chunin turned and engaged Mitsuo, one pulling out a katana that effectively kept Mitsuo and his deadly palm technique at a distance. They circled, Mitsuo dashing into to lay hits and take cuts from the blade or from the target's kunai.

'Ignore him. He'll be fine' With that thought in mind, Keika leapt down from the trees and landed silently on the forest floor, right behind the genin girl, who had been trying to run away.

_DON'T LOOK._

Slamming her eyes closed because she dared not see the emotions of the one she was about to kill, Keika tossed handfuls of shuriken at the girl. There was the clanging of metal hitting metal, and Keika briefly realized that her weapons had been deflected.

She opened her eyes a crack and saw the terrified girl facing her down, holding two kunai like trench knives. The girl looked scared, and then she looked at Keika and with shock all over her face, cried, "But you're just a kid!"

Keika pushed chakra into her feet and ran forward at the girl. The girl tried to stab with her kunai, but Keika ducked just enough and jammed her own weapon into the girl's gut. A burst of red blood hit her face and she let go of the knife.

Slowly stepping back, she realized that her arm had gotten cut during her attack. Oh well. It didn't matter. It hurt, yes, but it would heal quickly.

She carefully, carefully retrieved her knife from the girl's dead body, avoiding looking at her eyes or face at all costs. Don't look. That was what she had learned. She just had to not look, and her mind would be fine and her heart wouldn't scream. At least, not as much as it did when she looked. Maybe being a ninja wasn't all it was made out to be. If the price was killing, maybe the power to protect was worthless.

Wiping the dirtied weapon on the grass, she stowed it back in her kunai holster and turned to face Mitsuo's battle. Yes, that was what mattered. Do not cry for the dead, because the living need your attention to make sure that the living stay that way and don't die.

Mitsuo was like a wasp, using his speed and his small size to his advantage over his bulkier enemies, who were therefore slower and didn't have the quick responses that Mitsuo did. Her roommate would speed in under their guard, attack swiftly with those blue chakra punches, and then spin out. So far, it was working well, more explosions of blue chakra than burst of red blood when Mitsuo got sliced.

"Dammed Hyuuga!" the second chunin yelled in fury, leaping back with his sword at the ready, "We were set up by Konoha!"

The first chunin, their target grinned as he exchanged blows with Mitsuo, "Hyuuga huh?! More bloodlines to get rid of!" He had eyes like Zabuza-san, eyes that wanted the blood to be spilt.

That was right, their information had warned them about this one. Their target was known for being particularly bloodthirsty, an avid supporter of the bloodline purity faction and ruthless on the battlefield. And here they were, two bloodline users – one of them only a genin – against two chunin whose job it was to kill bloodline users. They were technically outmatched and at a disadvantage.

Mitsuo leapt backwards, practically gliding over the ground with his speed. His eyes caught Keika and relief flooded his cold white eyes. "Form A!" he commanded, sliding back into a different stance than before.

There was only a moment of delay before Keika processed what he was planning on doing. In training, they had developed five battle moves that they could use reliably in combination. Form A, Mitsuo attacked straight on while Keika distracted the target with her ranged attacks, before they both came in close to take down the enemy.

She reached into her weapon pouch and pulled out two handfuls of metal.

Speeding in faster than anything, Mitsuo landed two solid palms onto the second chunin's arm while Keika hurled kunai at the first chunin.

With a burst of blue energy and a too-gentle tap to the chest, Mitsuo sent the second chunin collapsing to the ground, as if his heart had simply stopped. He jumped back and turned so that he and Keiika were back to back. "Are the genin down?" he whispered.

Keika slowly nodded, "Yeah," She hated this. She hated having to kill people and she hated it when everyone else treated it as a good thing when she did kill. The world was wrong. She didn't want to kill those genin, but if she hadn't then they would have killed her first, but they would only have done that because that was how they had been taught. Kill or be killed. For not the first time, and certainly not the last, Keika wished that she was blind.

"Do we have a plan?" she muttered back to Mitsuo. He was in charge after all.

He frowned and watched as their target picked up the sword that the second chunin had been using, "We attack close. Take him down."

The target laughed, "Wow! You little bloodline freaks are impressive!" and he really was enjoying this, Keika could see the amusement and the pleasure on his face as he wiped Mitsuo's blood off the sword, "Hyuuga-chan over there was pretty fast, and you, unknown one, have nice aim! I'll bet there's a sweet bounty for your pretty kekkai genkai heads!"

He twirled the blade around in the palm of his hand and then spun it so that he held the handle in a reverse grip, "Those eyes of yours," he asked, pointing to Keika with that same twisted grin on his face, "I'm curious, what the hell are they called? Swirl-eyes? Just what sort of bloodline is that?"

Keika felt her hands beginning to shake against her will. This guy, she had read about how much he loved to kill but there was such a huge difference between reading and seeing and feeling with her own eyes. The bloodlust on his face was undisguised and unrestrained, all honest curiosity behind his questions in the sort of way that made her known that as soon as she was dead he would pluck out her eyes and dissect them just to see how they worked.

"Leave Kamiko-san alone," Mitsuo said defensively, "We are here to kill you. Conversing with you is not an added bonus."

The chunin frowned, and disgust and dislike flittered across his eyes, "Well at least I'm going to survive the day, which is more than I can say about you disgusting freaks."

"We shall see." Mitsuo took two steps forward and slid into a deeper stance, his arms held aloft. In a cold and deadly voice, he said, "You are within the range of my divination."

In a burst of speed too fast for Keika to see, Mitsuo had rushed the chunin and placed two strikes to his arms that Keika could only see by the explosion of chakra, "Two palms!"

"Four palms!"

"Eight palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty-two pal-!"

The explosions of chakra suddenly stopped.

Mitsuo stopped moving.

He stopped talking.

The only thing that he did was cough up bright red blood before he slid off the chunin's blade and fell to the ground. Blood poured from the large gash that went all the way through his stomach and out the other side. His white eyes held fury and rage and the calm demeanor of battle in them, but his white eyes did not blink or move or track motion like they should have. Keika silently begged for his hands to twitch or his chest to inhale or exhale or something.

And still the blood. Didn't. _Stop_.

Blood. Blood _everywhere_.

Bright red that stained the earth and made Keika shake and tremble with fear and horror like she had on the night when hell decided to pay Konoha a visit. There was a body that didn't move and she knew what it meant when the body didn't move.

"Mitsuo…?" she called tentatively.

The chunin grinned, a psychotic grin that proved that he didn't care about the fact that he had just impaled her friend and had left him to bleed out on the ground. No, he did care. He had enjoyed it. He had loved the blood, and he was almost salivating at the thought of doing the same to her. "Damn, that was a nasty little insect."

He walked forward, stepping closer and closer to Keika, "You look easy to get rid of though. Cant even stop shaking."

Was she shaking? She couldn't tell what with the way the whole world seemed to be moving in front of her own eyes. The chunin's left arms hung uselessly by her side and she kept thinking 'Mitsuo did that! Now he just has to stand up and finish off the target!' Only he wasn't standing up and the chunin kept stepping closer and closer.

Her heart kept pounding in her own ears and she wondered if it had always been that loud. And the chunin kept walking right towards her.

And he wouldn't stop. There was no mercy in him, none on his face and none in his eyes. No Hitomi-sensei to save her at the last minute. No Fushidara-nii-san to swoop in and help her run. And now there was no Mitsuo-

Why was there no Mitsuo!?

He had to be here. He was supposed to be here.

The chunin stopped and raised his blade. He would cut off her head.

And then Keika's eyes focused and she saw the red blood had gotten to the point where there was more blood on the ground than there was Mitsuo.

Oh. That's right. Mitsuo's dead.

And then even more bright red blood stained the clearing grass.

The chunin fell to the ground.

Keika had stabbed him in the throat.

* * *

**S-S**: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted! I actually have written up to chapter 15, but I was just really lazy in getting this chapter up.

Someone posted a good question last chapter and I felt it was important enough to tell everyone who reads. Why did Keika blamed Mei Terumi for sending Fushidara on that mission? Because all Hitomi told Keika was that she had been arguing with Terumi over the subject. Keika could see that everyone was really scared and so did not want to ask questions. Thus her five year old mind jumped to the conclusion that it was Terumi who ordered the mission. Also, there will be a timeskip in this story, coming up very soon, from the end of this arc to when Keika is twelve and things get messy with the Uchiha. I promise you all will be able to tell when the timeskip happens.


	13. Fushidara

**Improbability**

**13**

**Fushidara**

* * *

Hitomi jumped down into the clearing, panicked and worried and annoyed and ready to fucking kill somebody. This had been a god-damn set up! Someone who knew about their mission details had leaked them to Yagura, and now every single one of them was in a danger that should not have gone hand in hand with this kind of mission.

It had only been her, Terumi, and another Kiri jonin on their part, but they had faced down at least twenty opponents, all freaking jonin! If Terumi hadn't done that thing where she turned the ground into lava, they might have actually died. She didn't so much care about the swordsmen on Keika's team, she was more worried about the girl herself. While she wouldn't call Keika weak, the girl simply didn't perform as well in an actual combat situation as she did in training, probably because the girl kept getting the emotional feed from her opponents. Poor kid. Some days Hitomi wondered why Keika still tried to be a ninja.

Her eyes quickly surveyed the area, looking for a small head of blond hair. She didn't find it. The trees and grass were painted red, and from the way two of the swordsmen were grinning, a serious blood bath had occurred. They must have faced extra reinforcements as well.

She strode right up to Zabuza and demanded, "Where is my student!?"

He hefted the giant cleaver blade onto his back and shrugged casually, "The brats? They left to fight the chunin and genin that were assigned to us. They're probably on their way back right now, unless they're really pathetic and still fighting."

Hitomi frowned at him, "Where did they go?"

Zabuza pointed to his right, "Headed over that way. Is Mei-chan with you?"

"She's taking care of the jonin that was on our team. There were way more opponents than we originally thought, and I can see that you guys encountered the same problem. We were set up," Hitomi informed him, "This mission was compromised and now we're just playing right into whatever trap Yagura set for us."

He looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but it didn't matter. As soon as she finished speaking, Hitomi had already run off in the direction he pointed.

Something was going on here, and she intended to find out what. There was a spy in their midst, one of the Kiri rebel faction must have turned traitor, or had joined the organization as a spy from the beginning. After all, this was madness and chaos and it made sense that Terumi couldn't always do a secure background check on all the members that joined her cause. And now, for her carelessness, Keika was paying dearly. Hitomi only hoped that she would be in time to save Keika, before one of the targets decided to purge her bloodline as well. Never once in Hitomi's mind did it occur to her that the one who had sold them out was Danzo.

She ran through the forest as fast as her legs could carry her, hoping that she would be fast enough, faster enough to save Keika, to save that Hyuuga, to save her poor student.

The forest thinned and her heart flattered for a moment once she drew close enough to sense the chakra signatures of those involved in the fight. There was only one person alive.

One.

Hitomi swore, running faster until she reached the survivor. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Keika who lived.

Oh no… things must have gone very badly. Keika was just sitting there, in a pool of red blood that wasn't her own, but came from the fallen body of one of the Kiri chunin they had been forced to kill. And then there was the Hyuuga, dead, lying a few paces away. Keika wasn't moving. She was just staring at the body of her dead teammate with this blank and confused look in her eyes. Her hands were shaking and a discarded and bloodstained kunai tumbled to the ground when she could no longer keep her fingers steady enough to hold it.

"Keika?" Hitomi said slowly, slowly inching towards the girl. Never surprise a child like that, she remembered. The war had been long and bloody and she had seen many a small kid go mad and start killing, the only thing to do then was to wait it out and try to take them out from a distance because often not even shinobi could approach a dangerous and frightened child. Most times, she remembered sadly, the only thing to do when a kid had seen something like that, the only humane thing was to put them out of their misery. Because of Danzo's orders, she couldn't even do that for Keika.

Her strange kekkei genaki eyes did not move, she just continued to stare at Mitsuo, unblinking and almost unaware. Keika's hands and shoulders where shaking madly, random spasms that she couldn't control or was even aware of.

Hitomi cautiously approached the girl, keeping her hands up in a gesture of good will the whole time, "Keika," she said again, trying to make her voice sound as kind as possible, "Are you injured?" she asked, looking her over for any sign of blood. She was splattered with red, but her clothing was not damaged and her skin was unmarred. Someone else's blood then.

Keika's head of unruly blond hair trembled as she hurriedly shook her head. She still said nothing, and her eyes didn't move an inch.

"This is going to be hard for you to listen to," Hitomi began, preparing herself mentally for what she was sure to be a very unpleasant task, "But I need you to focus and I need you to follow the orders I give you. Can you do that?"

Another shaky nod.

"Okay," Hitomi said, coming to stand next to Keika. She kneeled down and retrieved a clean cloth from her holster, cleaning the blood off of Keika's arms and face, trying to be as gentle as possible, "Listen to me now, we were…" she trailed off and cast another concerned look to Keika, who had not moved, "Blink, Keika. You can't stay like this. You have to focus."

Keika blinked, slowly and hesitantly. Hitomi began to speak again, "This mission was compromised. Someone leaked information to the other side, to Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage. You met extra resistance, and so did Terumi-san and I. That is why this mission went badly. Now, I need you to pay close attention to this next part, because it's important. Juni- Fushidara's target is the Mizukage. If our enemies were so well supported, how heavy do you think reinforcements for the Mizukage will be?"

It was a dirty ploy, but a true one. The only way that Hitomi could think of to get Keika to move was to bring up the certain danger that her beloved big brother was in. And it was true, he was in the most danger out of all of them. He had been tasked with attacking the outpost where the Mizukage was visiting. Hence the rush for this mission, Kage rarely left their highly guarded hidden village and so they had to take advantage of the brief chance offered by his absence.

Keika's eyes focused a little better and she slowly looked up at Hitomi, a tiny spark of fear showing behind her dead eyes. It nearly broke Hitomi's heart to see her looking so sad, so scared, so lonely.

Hardening her features, Hitomi ordered, "Stand up!"

Slowly, like she was only just remembering how to move her limbs, Keika stood up. Her knees were shaking badly and her eyes kept wandering from fear, but it was as good as Hitomi was going to get for a while now. Hitomi walked over to Mitsuo's body.

Ignoring Keika's flinch when her hands touched his face, Hitomi set to work. She sent a tiny pulse of fire-natured chakra to his eyes, covering up the movement with the honorable pretense of closing his eyes. His precious byagukan turned to ash in his skull. She pulled out a scroll and quickly sealed his body inside it. Before she returned it to her weapons pouch, she marked it respectfully with a black line, the symbol for a corpse scroll.

"We need to get back…" Hitomi muttered, partly to herself and partly to Keika, although she still was unsure if Keika was lucid enough to understand and comprehend most of her words. Shock did that to a person, especially children and especially nasty kills like this one and seeing their only friend be killed right in front of them and- Hitomi sighed and let it drop. This was all Danzo's fault.

She turned to Keika, "Can you-" and then shut up when she saw the state the girl was in. She could barely stand what with how badly she was trembling, there was no way that she could walk, let alone run, and they needed to get there quickly. Time was of the essence.

"I'll carry you," Hitomi said at last, walking over to Keika and letting the girl climb on her back. Keika was still so small, and she weighed so little that it was absurdly easy to carry her on her back, so long as Hitomi kept a hand on her legs to make sure that Keika didn't fall off.

With a burst of chakra, she leapt onto the trees and broke out into a fast run for the clearing where she had left the members of the Kiri rebel faction.

With every leap closer, the pit in Hitomi's stomach grew deeper and deeper, until she could barely think. This was bad. This was so bad that she did not think she had a word for how dire the situation was. Mitsuo was dead, the mission compromised placing their team under scrutiny from the Kiri rebel faction, Juni- Fushidara was about to go on a suicide mission, and Keika, Danzo's prized new shinobi, could barely function let alone talk. Hitomi didn't know if anything from this mission was salvageable. But she knew that Danzo would be pleased, the bastard. He didn't care how many died, so long as he got his results.

Hitomi pushed herself off a tree branch, tucking Keika's knees closer to her body so that the girl remained steady as Hitomi ran faster. Hitomi had never despised Danzo as much as she did now. He always did what he thought would be in the best interest of Konoha and there were definitely parts of the village that were better off from some of his ideas. But when he began to justify this, sending his own shinobi who trusted him off on a mission to their deaths for no reason other than to emotionally scar a five year old child…

"Hang on Keika…" she muttered as she ran, "We're almost there. Just hold on."

Hitomi broke through the tree cover and landed gracelessly on the edge of the clearing. Cautiously, she lowered a trembling Keika to the ground and then turned where the other Mist ninja were.

The bodies from before were gone, a small blessing, and the three swordsmen and Terumi were standing around an unidentified ninja while the two jonin of their group were patrolling the area.

The new member of their party was handcuffed and bloody, with the edge of Zabuza's sword hovering just above his neck.

Hitomi strode over to them, "A survivor?" she inquired, glancing down at the face of the nameless man, "Has he said anything?"

Terumi shook her head, "Nothing of value, though we know he's a high ranking jonin so he should have a good number of secrets in him, but he's been spewing a bunch of rubbish mostly. His story changes every time and we can't get a straight answer out of him," she pouted, "Scared as hell though," she added as a spare thought. Terumi turned to see Keika slowly approaching them, and her eyes softened, "The Hyuuga didn't make it huh? How's the girl doing… or is that too stupid a question to even ask?"

"Bad," Hitomi said honestly, "We need to find out if they know about the third mission, the one our comrade got sent on. If we lose Fushidara, I honestly can't say what will happen to her. But it won't be pretty."

Hitomi's blue eyes turned icy cold as she turned to the prisoner with a hard look on her face, "Now, you are going to tell me what the Mizukage knows about our mission. And you are going to talk quickly," she glanced up at Zabuza, "See that guy with the giant sword to your neck? Yeah, if you don't spill it soon then his arm might get too tired to hold his blade up. I suggest you start talking now."

A fresh bout of terror came over the man, "I really don't know anything I swear! We weren't told anything, there were just orders! I'm not even that high a rank, I don't have access to that stuff! Please believe m-"

"Lie." Keika whispered.

Hitomi looked down at Keika. The girl was staring at the prisoner with the strangest expression on her face. She looked so sad and so scared and so terrified and at the same time she had taken all that fear and just put a blank face over it and had begun to focus. If her brother was involved, then Keika would do anything.

Terumi whistled appreciatively, "That's a hell of a kekkei genaki kid," she turned to the prisoner with a grin on her face, "Talk."

He was looking desperate and glanced about wildly as he sputtered, "I was telling the truth, I don't know-"

"Lie," Keika repeated.

"Listen here," Terumi told him angrily, "You tell us what we need to know, and you don't die."

He panicked, "I- I don't understand-"

Terumi sighed as that sadistic grin returned, "What's not to understand? You lie one more time, I give the signal to my good friend with the sword. You've heard of Zabuza, the demon of the mist, haven't you? That's him over there. I say 'aye' and he drops the blade. The ground gets bloody and you get dead," she leaned in close to his face and muttered, "Now talk!"

Eyes wide with uncontrolled fear, the man sputtered out, "We were told that there was going to be an ambush on two teams, and one assassination attempt on the Mizukage! There were extra teams assigned to each mission and we were told that a Konoha team would be assisting the rebel faction! That's all I know, I swear!"

Keika nodded once, slowly and deliberately, "Truth."

"How fresh was this information?" Hitomi asked, her mind whirling with the possibilities of who could have sold them out. She doubted that anyone from the Kiri team here would have been the leak, they were all far too dedicated to the cause and she didn't think that it was any of their team. That left the members of the rebel faction that weren't assigned to the mission, but were high enough in the system to know about the mission and had significant reasons to betray the faction. Never once did she consider that Danzo himself had betrayed them.

The guy looked right at her, "Very. We were told that it came from a trusted source."

Terumi frowned, "I see," then she paused and said, "Tell me everything that you know about Mist's current plans to defeat our faction!"

Shocked and scared, the man said right away, "There was a plan to plant explosives in your base and send mercenaries and hunter nin to finish off the survivors! There wasn't any real action taken last time I was in the village and nothing solid has been formed yet but plans are definitely going to take place between this summer and next spring and that's all I know I swear!"

"Truth," Keika confirmed.

Terumi grinned, "Now _that _is what I call useful." She glanced up at the two other swordsmen, "Choujiro, Ringo-chan, you two are going back to the base and I want you to find whatever medics we can scrounge up. Then wait for us half-way between the base and the outpost where Yagura is stationed. Hitomi, Kamiko-chan, and Zabuza, you are with me. We're going to rescue their teammate, got it?" She turned around, her red hair glistening in the mist, "And Zabuza," she added, "kill him."

Before the prisoner even said a word, Zabuza had neatly cleaved his head from his shoulders.

Blood splattered the ground. The head rolled to a stop at Zabuza's feet. He kicked it away and walked up to join Terumi, "Let's get going," he said, hefting his blade onto his shoulders causally, "I can't wait to kill some of those fuckers."

"It's a rescue mission, Zabuza," Terumi reminded him half-heartedly.

Hitomi picked Keika up again and lifted the girl onto her back. Then the three of them followed as Terumi broke out into a run for the outpost.

* * *

Terumi crept over the misty ground, her hands up in a half seal to keep the constant cover of mist that was the only barrier between them and discovery. Zabuza was at her back, his blade out and his dark eyes constantly darting around the clearing. It seemed that even these hardened fighters were scared of the Mizukage and his fearsome reputation. Hitomi still kept a close eye on Keika, she had to watch to make sure that the poor girl stayed silent, hidden and safe. Keika was still not herself, still like a ghost child, but there was more awareness in her eyes, more consciousness as everything in her was drawn towards the goal of saving her pseudo big brother.

The group was on high alert, keeping all eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

They were not at the front doors of the outpost yet, but they were close, and on their way nearer with every second.

When two guards lingered for too long under the trees where they were perched, Hitomi cast a swift genjutsu over them, immobilizing them while Terumi and Zabuza dropped silently from the trees to deliver the killing blow. Then they continued on.

A weak and fast diminishing chakra signature was approaching slowly from the direction of the base.

Terumi held up and hand and the group ceased to move, freezing where they stood while they waited for the person to get closer. The only sound was the wind through the trees and the soft creeping of Terumi's mist that was somehow almost audible. The mist grew thicker, closing off any sign or scent of their forms while they all maintained a tight hold on their chakra, constantly masking the energy so as not to be discovered. Hitomi grasped Keika's hand to offer whatever meager reassurance she could give to the girl.

Then the figure emerged from the mist like a ghost.

It was a man, drenched in blood, staggering along because he had one leg broken at the knee. His messy brown hair mixed with blood and sweat and fell into his half-dead eyes. A metal headband was clasped in his right hand, as if it had been ripped from his head but he had not bared to part with it. Underneath the blood and the dirt and the layers of filth and grime, the same uniform that Hitomi was wearing was visible.

"Fushidara-nii-san!" Keika cried, abandoning all caution and safety, ripping her hand out of Hitomi's as she dropped to the ground and ran towards the figure.

Hitomi swore and yelled, "Wait!" She swung over the edge of the branch and let go, landing much more gracefully than Keika, hurrying to follow the figure of the small girl, "Terumi," she called over her shoulder, "Help me carry him! It's our teammate all right!"

Terumi nodded and followed them, motioning to Zabuza that he should keep watch to make sure that no one arrived, attracted by their noise.

Keika almost ran into her brother, worry and panic flooding her face as she cried, "Fushidara-nii-san!"

Fushidara smiled brokenly as his cloudy eyes focused on her, "Imouto…" he muttered, before he collapsed. Keika cried out as he fell onto the grass like a broken puppet, red blood splattering everywhere. He reached out and grabbed hold of her flailing hand. She dropped down to his side and Hitomi could follow her eyes as she desperately sought for the source off all the blood.

"What happened?" Hitomi demanded, far more professionally as she kneeled next to him, searching through her weapon pouch to find the first aid kit.

Pink bubbles gurgled from his pale lips as he said, "It wasn't even a challenge… they knew… that I was coming… Just one blow, I never… stood a chance…" he coughed up and sticky glob of blood and breathed heavily for a moment before he managed to continue, "That man… left me for dead…"

"The Mizukage?" Terumi asked, hurriedly passing a roll of white bandages to Hitomi, who put them to good use and plastered a field dressing over the wound on his stomach. The white soaked up the blood too quickly to do any good.

Fushidara slowly and with much effort shook his head, "No…" he gasped, coughing painful heavy breaths between words, "It was… someone else… A man… with an orange mask and… one visible eye… Don't know… who he was…" he turned to face Keika, "Grow up…" he whispered, "be strong… become… a good ninja… okay?"

She nodded quickly, "I will I promise! And you're going to be there when I succeed!" she cried desperately, "I'm going to change this world! I promised! I promise you!"

"The medics," Terumi muttered quietly to Hitomi, "They won't get here in time."

Keika ignored her, "You're going to see me when I become a strong ninja, you're going to be there, there when I get a rank up, there when I make the world a better place like I promised! You can't talk like this, you can't, you're going to be there! Don't-" her voice broke into a pained sob, "Don't leave me nii-san! You can't! Please!"

Once bright brown eyes faded. The hand that Keika was holding onto with a death grip went lax. The ragged breaths that had come from Fushidara' torn body were silent.

He was gone.

There was silence as Keika's sobs were barely quieted by the mist. The loud and pained child's wails were muffled by the ruined fabric of Fushidara's shirt as she clung to her brother's hand with desperation. Hot fat tears rolled down her cheeks. It wasn't becoming of a ninja, ninja weren't supposed to shed tears, especially not specially trained Root shinobi, but Hitomi wasn't going to reprimand her student. Ninja or not, Root or not, Keika was a five year old child who was holding the hand of a dead man who was the only loving family that she had ever known.

Zabuza gave a warning hand signal to Terumi and the young woman nodded once before turning to Hitomi and whispering, "The enemy is on their way fast. Following the blood tracks and there's only so much time before they arrive. Get the girl and head back to Konoha, your mission is done."

Hitomi nodded, "And what about you?" she asked, reaching into her pocket for another scroll. It was a sad day indeed when Hitomi needed more than one containment scroll for a dead body of one of their own, an even sadder day when those bodies were the result of Danzo himself. "Will you be alright?"

"Fine," Terumi said tensely, "Me and Zabuza can take a few jonin, easy. Plus Choujiro and Ringo-chan will be moving to meet up with us and they'll have back-up. We'll be fine. If I were you, I'd be more worried about Keika." She cast a sad and pitying look to the girl. Any illusion of age or maturity that a ninja's attire had provided her with was ripped away when Keika was huddled over Fushidara's body, sobbing her heart out. "Poor girl…" Terumi said quietly.

Kneeling down slowly, Hitomi placed her hands over Keika's, "Keika…" she said as gently as she could, "We need to get out of here. More ninja are on their way. We have to get back to Konoha," she glanced down at Fushidara, "Your brother needs a proper funeral."

Slowly, and with much effort, Keika nodded. She let Hitomi pry her hands off of Fushidara's, and Keika even managed not to scream when Hitomi sealed his body away in a scroll, even though it was so obvious that she did not want to part with him.

Hitomi pocketed the scroll and helped Keika to her feet, "I'll carry you," she said, getting a tone of order back.

"We've got about two minutes till they find us!" Zabuza called back to Terumi, "Those Konoha brats had better get the heck out of here and fast!"

Terumi turned around and ordered, "Go and stall the enemy, I'll be there in a second to back you up!" she turned again to face Keika and kneeled down so that they were eye level, Terumi's bright green eyes looking into Keika's dead and fascinating ones, "Keika-chan," she said softly, "Thanks to you I have managed to get rid of a large portion of the enemies troops and gain important intel that could turn the tide of this fight. I owe you a great debt. If you are ever in Kiri or in need of help, do not hesitate to call on me."

Keika managed to lock her eyes with Terumi's, only for a second, but just a second of realization and understanding of what she had said. Keika nodded.

And then Terumi leapt away to fight off the Kiri ninja and Hitomi flung Keika onto her back and ran in the far-off direction of Konoha.

* * *

"Mission success."

It was such a lie, such a filthy and dirty lie that it made Hitomi want to scream and spit out the words before they burned her. She just stood there, in Danzo's office, away from the mist and the blood and Keika's tears. It had been an uneventful journey back, but a depressing one. Keika had not spoken once, and she had not cried since Fushidara's death. Danzo simply had that blank look on his face and Keika was staring at the ground so it wasn't as if Hitomi could ask her what Danzo was thinking of.

'_You sent two ninja to their deaths!'_ Hitomi wanted to yell. She wanted to scream at him, at this man who sat behind his desk and ordered people to die. But she could not. She would never be able to and that was what killed her the most inside.

"Did you manage to retrieve the bodies?" Danzo asked, uninterested.

Hitomi nodded and took the two scrolls out of her pocket. Slowly she placed them on Danzo's desk, not letting go of Keika's hand and refusing to meet Danzo's eye out of principle.

Danzo's sole visible eye locked onto Hitomi's hand, the one that was grasped tightly onto Keika's. A small and barely visible hand flickered across his face and he stood up from his chair, his hand tight on the handle of his unnecessary cane. "There are some new changes that have to be made. I understand that Kamiko was studying under an additional teacher before. This has been changed. Hitomi, you will teach Kamiko twice a week starting now. The rest of the time, she will be under my direct instruction or under that of those I see fit to teach her."

No.

That wasn't supposed to happen. Keika couldn't recover if she was under Danzo's tutelage. Keika would only be hurt and scarred and hurt again until there would be nothing left of who she was and there would only be an emotion-less shell of a girl that had learned nothing save how to kill and how to fight. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Keika was supposed to recover and then find a way to remove the seal on Hitomi and then the two of them were supposed to run away from Root and Konoha and live somewhere better.

But Hitomi could say nothing in protest because this was a direct order and she had to obey direct orders from Danzo. All she could do was take the information with a straight face and give a nod even when she was screaming inside the small part of her that hadn't been blocked off by a twisted and fucked up seal.

"And another thing," Danzo placed a small bottle of pills on the counter, "One a day for a week. They will help you with your vision."

That was another order, and Hitomi's almost but not shaking hand closed around the bottle of pills. She had the most horrible feeling that they were anything but legitimate. Help with her vision, yeah right. A twisted experiment to find out why she had no sharingan was more like it. The pills rattled inside the bottle and she quickly stowed it in her pocket to smother the noise.

Danzo stood and walked to the door, "Hitomi, you are dismissed. Kamiko, with me."

And then Keika followed Danzo out the door willingly, leaving Hitomi to shake in fury and anger in an empty office.

Danzo would destroy Keika.

And there was nothing Hitomi could do about that.

* * *

**S-S:** So poor Fushidara is dead and now Keika is under the evil clutches of Danzo. And Hitomi is going to be Orochimaru's new experiment. Luckily, things get worse. Timeskip next chapter!


	14. Intermission: Letters

**Improbability **

**14**

**Intermission: Letters**

* * *

_Keika: _

_I should not be writing this, so if you are reading this as I hope you will, my first word of warning is this; tell no one of this journal. I should also apologize for stealing the journal of your friend Mitsuo. At first I was simply curious and surrounded in thoughts of your fuinjutsu and so stole the book that contained your sketches. However when it began to burn in my pocket as this knowledge did in my mind, I realized that it was the perfect vessel for my instructions to you. I mean Mitsuo no disrespect, and I have left all his old drawings intact and unharmed._

_My warnings: Cease taking the drugs that Danzo has prescribed you. _

_I have sources and allies outside of Konoha and one of my allies has informed me that these drugs were taken directly from Orochimaru, a name I know you are aware of. The drugs that I am forced to take have already began to affect me, but it is not too late for you. I doubt that yours are as damaging as mine, but even so. Watch out for Orochimaru. He has an interest in rare kekkei genkai. _

_Your brother. Fushidara. His body was not buried in the memorial graveyard as you were told, instead he still lies in a scroll in Danzo's private vault. I know that you will give him the proper funeral that he rightly deserves. _

_There are so many more things that I wish to tell you, and so many things that I am not able to. Once I find a way to bypass the seal placed on me, I will tell you everything, I promise. Until then, be wary of Danzo. He has a thousand secrets. Learn as many as you can._

_Stay safe._

_Hitomi_

* * *

_Keika:_

_I apologize for the sorrow you must feel after having lost your sensei. The Hokage was a good man, and the whole village mourns. I am glad that you are safe and unharmed. I don't know why I'm writing this. I only wrote to give you a warning. Perhaps I too am feeling lonely. My eldest brother was lost in the attack. I do not miss him. So then why am I writing?_

_Maybe I do._

_Stay safe. Please._

* * *

_Keika,_

_Congratulations on making chunin. _

_I was watching the final round, even though you most likely did not see me. It was difficult to secure a mission nearby Iwa in time for the tournament, but it was well worth the hassle to see you fight. I am sad to see that our lessons have been entirely cancelled. Be wary of the instructors Danzo choses for you. You are growing into a powerful ninja. If Fushidara had been watching you fight he would have been cheering you on._

* * *

_Dear Keika,_

_I take back everything I said last letter._

_Your brother would not have been cheering you on._

_He would have said the exact same thing I am about to tell you. Get out. _

_Get out of Root, get out of Konoha. Leave the life of a ninja and go live somewhere peaceful. I saw you return from your most recent mission, the one to Kusa. I don't care if you are a chunin, I don't care how much promise Danzo says you show, I don't even care that you're Root anymore. You are nine. No nine year old should see that kind of torture, much less have to carry it out._

_I confess, before I knew you, my plan was to leave Root and carry on with life somewhere away from Konoha. Once I became your sensei, my plan somehow included taking you with me. Please, get out of Root. You are not suited for life as a ninja. Your eyes have banned you from that, your kind soul has too. _

_I repeat;_

_Get. Out._

* * *

_Dear Keika,_

_I'm so sorry._

_I don't quite know what for, but I am. _

_I wish that I could be your instructor again, if only for a short while, but I fear that I will soon… well… _

_I'm becoming useless, and I know as well as you do that there are no useless people in Root._

_The drugs have begun to show some of the more nasty side effects. I can no longer speak, so I must write. I am lucky enough to still preform missions, although things that I could do a month or so ago now exhaust me to the point where I am forced to rest. My eyes will be taken from me soon as well. My vision is at times better than when I was healthy, and sometimes I cannot see my own hands in front of my face. _

_If Danzo does not soon see fit to execute me (in a discreet and quiet manner of course), then I fear I will die from this illness. Because I am selfish, I ask that I can see you and talk to you again soon. I miss you Keika. I wish this had never happened to either of us._

* * *

_Dearest Keika,_

_Happy eleventh birthday. _

_Please get out now. Go._

* * *

_The seal cracked this morning. _

_It is because I am nearing death and the seal fades when that happens. I can now tell you everything. _

_Danzo forced you to stop being Minato's apprentice, even though he did not know that it was the Hokage who taught you. He sent a false message proclaiming you dead in combat._

_He did not steal the drugs he has been giving you from Orochimaru either. He has been in regular contact with the sanin himself, considers him an ally of sorts and willingly handed over blood tests and DNA tests so that Orochimaru could create a panel of drugs for you. _

_The disaster in Kiri._

_We did have a spy in our midst back then, but it was not one of the rebel faction. It was Danzo. He leaked out plans to Yagura. In a way, he killed Mitsuo._

_You have long since blamed Mei Terumi for the death of your brother Fushidara. It was Danzo who changed the mission plans, not her. He was aware that if he honestly wanted to carry out the assassination of Yagura, he could not just send a jonin, but he did anyways. Danzo wanted Fushidara dead, he wanted him dead from the moment that he assigned us that mission. He wished for you to become colder and less kind and so assigned us the perfect mission to accomplish that. _

_I am sorry. _

_I don't know when or how I can get this journal to you without being discovered, especially now that I am no longer your teacher. I will find a way to get this truth to you. I know that I can do that much for you._

_I know that my death will soon approach me, whether it is by Danzo's methods or by this illness, and so I only request that you get revenge. Revenge for all that have fallen to his schemes. _

_-Hitomi_

* * *

**S-S: Thus is our timeskip chapter! I promise, Itachi will show up soon, in like, two chapters. Just be patient. **


	15. Blind Servitude

**Improbability **

**15**

**Blind Servitude**

* * *

Two figures fought on the lowest level of the Root base, a wide open space at the very bottom of the Disk that was used for combat. It was a convenient area for large scale fighting, because stray ninjutsu would simply go up the Disk and be discharged, instead of hitting a wall or ceiling and causing mass destruction. And teachers or team captains could watch from higher levels without any threat of injury to themselves.

Danzo watched with unapparent interest as the two ninja fought, his hand clutching the handle of his cane as his fingers tapped out a subconscious rhythm while he observed the fighting. Normally he would not have taken such an interest in the fight- his ninja were made to fight one another for testing or evaluation all the time and the very detailed results were always delivered promptly to Danzo's office. However, with this fight, one of the combatants was special, his own prized student. Of course, he would never give her an easy opponent. He had pitted her against one of his jonin, a fine fighter who was a fire user and a good few years older than his student. If she won, Danzo was considering allowing her to take the jonin exam from Konoha proper.

The jonin fighter was tall, dark haired and dark skinned with a muscular build and wielded the standard tanto on his back. The fight was going badly on his end, all his fire techniques fell under the category of a big fireball that was useless for melee style fighting.

The girl on the other hand, was small and lithe, darting in and striking fast blows with her custom kusarigama that had been designed with a much longer blade and an extendable chain. The girl had very pale skin and pale blond hair that she kept tied back in a bun secured with a single senbon. Danzo was proud of how Kamiko had turned out. Her blank grey eyes stared uncaringly at her opponent. That was the only henge she had ever managed to perform, a simple blurring of her eyes to allow her kekkei genkai to pass unnoticed. Oh well, she was still good for her age and Danzo was hoping that she would continue to progress and would soon be unhindered by her few restrictions.

The jonin broke the melee combat they had engaged in to jump backwards and spit a massive ball of fire towards Kamiko, the heat of it reaching even Danzo. Kamiko did not even blink, instead she simply placed her hands together and ran through hand signs.

In an instant, she created a huge gust of wind that overpowered the flame and turned the fire back against the jonin. Danzo nodded to himself. She had mastered the futon element well. Although fire was naturally more powerful against wind, if the wind user was skilled enough, it was simple to turn the firestorm against the user. Kamiko was particularly skilled at this, her alternate chakra nature of fire assisting her against such opponents.

Heavy burns ruining his hands, the jonin staggered backwards and reached for a kunai, his fingers too damaged to do much more than hold the metal weapon. Certainly too damaged to form hand signs. Kamiko leapt forward, her scythe-like blade at the ready. The jonin parried her blows for a moment and managed to slice her shoulder before she placed a well-aimed kick to his elbow, breaking the joint and sending the kunai flying out of his grip.

Kamiko swept his feet out from under him with a graceful kick, sending the jonin falling to the floor, his broken arm jarring badly as he hit the ground. She stepped over him and placed the blade of her kusarigama against his throat.

"Forfeit," she commanded quietly, pressing the sharp metal edge a little closer to his skin.

Danzo frowned. His fingers stilled on the handle of his cane. That was perhaps his student's only failure, she did not take the immediate kill shot when she had the chance, instead giving her opponent an option to surrender. Of course, when she was performing assassinations, she did no such thing, but in the sparring ring it was a regrettable mistake.

The jonin knew the price for failure, and his hand was already inching towards a discarded kunai lying on the hard floor, "Never," he choked out, giving the proper response that Danzo expected from his shinobi. Death before failure.

Kamiko didn't blink, and just moved her arm, cutting the man's throat open and splattering the stone floor with blood. She stepped off his writhing body, making way for the medic who rushed to heal the injury before the man drowned in his own blood. The man would live, but hopefully would have learned a lesson from the match.

Picking up his cane once again, Danzo slowly made his way down the stairs to the lower level. Hesitant to take lives in the sparring ring maybe, but she was still one of his best shinobi and certainly the one with the most potential. She was still young, which made her a little more malleable, but she had served Danzo faithfully since she had arrived here, never once disobeying an order. Kamiko was certainly a prodigy, and he knew that her eyes properties would aide her in the mission he was about to assign her.

"Kamiko," he said gruffly, "Well done."

She bowed deeply and stood, finishing cleaning off her kusarigama and stowing on her back where most Root shinobi kept their tanto knives. "I thank you for your praise, Danzo-sama," she said respectfully, keeping her gaze on the floor.

"I want you to take the next day off from missions," Danzo ordered, "You will have a new mission, long term," he turned around and began to walk back to his office, "Follow me and we will discuss your latest assignment."

Kamiko obediently followed him as they climbed up the long flights of stairs. When they came to Danzo's office, he opened the door and ushered her inside, before shutting the door behind them.

With his cane tapping on the cold stone floor, Danzo walked around behind his desk and leisurely sat down, letting his cane lean against the side of his desk. Kamiko stood silently in front of his desk, her arms stiff at her sides and her gaze not moving from the floor.

Danzo reached into a drawer and pulled out a thin stack of papers, placing them on the desk in front of Kamiko. "As you are well aware," he began, "You are jonin rank within root. Officially of course, you have yet to take the exam in Konoha proper, but that is irrelevant. You have the skills." He looked at her unmoving face, somewhat proud that she wasn't showing that she was pleased at his praise of her. He had taught her well, "I have a new long term assignment for you, starting tommorow and without a designated end. You will be joining Konoha proper as a new member of Anbu. You will be part of a newly formed squad that is unofficially the best of the best and effectively the Hokage's personal squad. In this position I am sure that you will be able to both complete the missions assigned to you by Sarutobi and the missions I assign you."

Kamiko glanced up, her eyes locking with his, "You wish me to be a spy."

She had been taught well. That was exactly what Danzo wanted her to be. She was perfect for the job, young enough to be considered malleable and relatively innocent, yet Danzo knew that she would follow his every word without fail. A perfect spy and a perfect soldier, "Precisely. There may be missions assigned to you that should not be carried out, shinobi that have gone rogue but should not be placed in the bingo book. You understand, I am sure, that this is for the good of Konoha."

Slowly, with a focused and clear look in her eyes, Kamiko nodded, "I understand. I will follow your orders."

"Good," Danzo said, sliding the papers across the table to her, "This will be your application form. Fill it out however you like, the Hokage is already aware that you are one of my shinobi. You have the next day off, you will be provided with S-rank mission pay and an up-front payment to purchase an apartment in Konoha proper."

Kamiko blinked and looked surprised for a moment, "I will be living in Konoha proper?"

Danzo nodded, "It would be unwise to have you return to the base every day. You will be living in Konoha proper until the end of your mission."

"I see," Kamiko said, bowing her head, "What do you wish for me to do, once I am a member of Anbu in Konoha proper? I cannot be seen compromising a mission by the other squad members so there will be little that I can actively do without blowing my cover."

"I will not order you to actively compromise a mission, you are correct," Danzo agreed, "I have placed you in this place to gather information, nothing more." He glanced down at the application forms for the Konoha Anbu and added, "You will be using the name Kamiko during the course of your mission, but you may chose a last name of your own choice or not give a surname at all. You leave the base tomorrow to set up an establishment in Konoha. And no matter the conditions, you must keep the henge over your eyes constantly. No one is to know about your kekkei genaki. Good luck."

Kamiko bowed and took the papers, "I will not fail you, Danzo-sama," she said, turning and leaving the office.

A tiny sneaky smile flashed through Danzo's eyes for a moment. He would take that old fool Sarutobi down, and Kamiko would be the very person to help him do it.

* * *

Keika walked quietly back to her room, which she had entirely to herself. Special privileges as a result of being Danzo-sama's student. She hadn't been able to stand having another person with which she would have to share a room and living space and possibly go on missions with because she knew that eventually she would get to invested in the person's emotions that she saw and would begin to care. The only people that she cared about now were either dead or as good as. Keika never seemed to see Hitomi-sensei anymore.

Had she been more suspicious of Danzo-sama, she would have asked him why it seemed as though the moment Keika returned from a mission, Hitomi-sensei had just left on one. It was probably just bad luck and Keika knew that he teacher was busy. And sick. Hitomi-sensei hadn't said a single word to Keika the last time she had visited, and from the pained look in her teacher's eyes and the way she breathed heavier than usual, Keika knew it wasn't a choice. Her teacher could not talk anymore. Maybe on this mission, Keika could check out the hospital in Konoha proper, a place far better stocked and staffed than the medical center in the Root base, and she could see if there was any medicine for Hitomi-sensei's condition.

The door to her room creaked open and she shut it behind her, walking over to the bed and sitting down. Because she had a normal room but all to herself, she had pushed the two small beds together to make one larger one that was comfier and better to sleep in when she ended up tossing and turning. She had also shattered the mirror, but that wasn't relevant.

Her hand reached up to the senbon in her hair and took it out, placing it on the bed. A long curtain of pale blond hair fell around her face and she exhaled a puff of air to blow a strand out of her eyes. The senbon was the only object that she owned that she cherished. It was the one she had been given all those years ago by Fushidara-nii-san when he had first arrived at her parent's house and taken her to Konoha. It was the most precious thing she had.

Keika tucked her knees to her chest, curling into a ball. What was she going to do about this new mission?

She had remembered that Minato-sensei was very kind and nice and he had never lied once and he honestly had what was best for the village and the people that lived there in mind. Keika could only assume that the current Hokage was the same way. Should she really be spying on a kind man? But on the other hand, Fushidara-nii-san had said that he trusted Danzo-sama. Keika should trust Danzo-sama as well. But what Danzo-sama was asking her to do was something that she honestly didn't know if she could accomplish.

Could she do it? Could she spy on her village leader and give away potentially compromising information about both Anbu and their missions to Danzo-sama? More than just mentally could she handle it, but did she have the skills? Her first answer was that 'no', she could not openly spy on the Hokage and get away with it. She knew that she was very advanced for her age and she knew how often Danzo-sama praised her as a 'prodigy', but she couldn't spy on the most powerful man in the village without being noticed. Also, she was sure that the Hokage would most likely already be suspicious of her from the moment she entered Anbu. That placed her in an even more difficult position.

Yet if she turned against Danzo-sama and worked for the Sandaime, she would be going against what Fushidara-nii-san had wanted her to do. If only her brother were here to tell her what to do or if only Hitomi-sensei could speak and give her advice. Keika didn't care if she was a prodigy, she was still only eleven. Sometimes she wanted other people to make decisions for her.

So if she would not turn against Danzo-sama and refused to spy on the Hokage, then what could she do? Nothing. She could do nothing.

She could just tell the Hokage that she wasn't a spy and only pass on either lies or innocent secrets to Danzo-sama. That would give her time to figure out what she could do.

Keika pulled out the papers that Danzo-sama had given her and walked over to the only furniture in the room besides the bed. She placed the papers on top of the desk and searched around in her drawer for a pen. She had kept up her seal work through the years, despite having no proper tutor and despite the fact that she was well aware it wasn't allowed by Danzo-sama, or at least not looked at in a good light. Danzo-sama did not want to risk the chances of having anyone learn enough to remove the seal he placed on all Root members. Little did he know that Keika had already removed his.

She grabbed a pen that had been hidden in the drawer's false bottom, one that had been lying next to her sketchbook. Benefits of lacking a roommate. No one went through her stuff unless they wanted to lose an arm or were strong enough to get away with it and then probably should not care about her clothing anyways.

It was a simple form, and yet Keika found it rather difficult to fill out. Danzo-sama had instructed her to use the name he had given her, Kamiko. She reluctantly filled in the fake name as her own. She also did not give herself a last name. It would either be her real last name, or a lie, and she disliked lying. There were a lot of basic questions, gender, blood type, height, weight, age. There were also blank spaces where future information would go, empty lines for her assigned Anbu mask and team members.

She filled it out and placed it back down on top of the dresser. It would probably be handed in when she was assigned to the Anbu team the day after next.

Keika ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face and trying to have it stay back behind her ears. It just fell back into that curtain of hair. Oh well. She turned out the small light and climbed into the bed. It was going to be a long and most likely sleepless night.

* * *

The next day, Keika woke up very late. She did that on purpose because her usual late was six in the morning and although she wanted to get to Konoha proper to buy an apartment as soon as she could, she knew that six in the morning was before any of the civilian businesses would have opened. She was also a little bit nervous, because she knew that she was only eleven, and while she could pass as thirteen if she tried hard, civilian businesses didn't really sell apartments to kids as young as her. Probably an exception to rules like those was made for shinobi.

Keika cleaned out her room, packing a bag with everything that she had. She had very little actually, just clothing and her standard Anbu uniform, her fuinjutsu journal, and a large cache of weapons. As she was trying to be inconspicuous when she entered Konoha proper, she ended up wearing the only set of civilian clothing she owned, a simple pair of pants and a shirt that wouldn't look out of place on a normal girl her age. She also sealed her weapons and her favorite kusarigama scythe away in a sealing scroll. That done, she pulled her hair back and tied it with Fushidara-nii-san's senbon.

The Disk was silent as usual, with a few people training at the bottom of the great underground chasm and what looked like a team of young genin leaving with an older jonin. Keika was about to head towards the exit closest to Konoha proper when she turned around and took a different set of stairs.

She wanted to say goodbye to Hitomi-sensei.

Her teacher would either be gone on a mission or cooped up in her room, resting and swallowing pills. Keika walked up the stairs to the fifth level of section C, where she knew her teacher's room was located. She shrugged her bag higher up on her shoulder and walked down the corridor, her henge-grey eyes scanning the room numbers as she passed by long numbers of doors.

Two young children scurried past her in a hurry as Keika turned a corner and immediately knocked twice on the first door to her left.

There was no reply, but Keika opened the door and walked in anyways. Knocking had just been to give her teacher advance notice that she was coming in.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness in the room before she could see more clearly. Her teacher didn't look well. Hitomi-sensei was sitting upright in the bed, her hands moving quickly as she scribbled something down on sheets of loose paper. At a closer look, Keika saw the standard seal for detonation tags on the page. Because she had been so sick, Hitomi-sensei had to take work for Root where she could find it and creating exploding tags was one of the things that she could do when not taking missions. In practice, Hitomi-sensei should have been kicked out of Root by now- or worse. Keika had asked Danzo-sama to let her stay on as long as she could. Benefits of being his only student.

There were dark circles under Hitomi-sensei's eyes from lack of sleep and her short black hair was lank and had grown out to her shoulders from lack of care. Her teacher looked up as Keika entered the room and a look of joy came over her features.

Keika knelt by the side of the bed and held Hitomi-sensei's thin hand, "Hello Hitomi-sensei," she said, her voice holding more emotion in it than it had for months.

Her teacher let a faint smile reach past her eyes and quirk the corners of her lips up. She nodded and placed her other hand over Keika's in greeting. Her voice had not returned, and Keika watched closely as the blue eyes of hers flickered in and out of focus, as if trying to see through eyes that would not cooperate.

"I hope you've been well," Keika began, taking note of the thinness of her teacher's hand and the way she had to breathe twice as fast, "I told Danzo-sama to give you this new job because I thought it might be easier for you if you took fewer missions," there was a gleam of gratitude in her teacher's eyes and Keika almost tried to smile at that before she continued, "You will not be seeing me for a while, I have a new long term mission. I'm moving to Konoha proper."

Keika let go of Hitomi-sensei's hand and shook her head at the worry in her teacher's eyes, "I will be fine sensei, I can handle myself. It is just a re-assignment to Anbu." She stood up and walked to the door, "Whenever I can, I will visit, I promise sensei. And I will try my hardest to get you proper medicine from the Konoha proper hospital."

Hitomi-sensei nodded and waved slowly as Keika shut the door behind her. "Bye sensei," Keika said sadly as she left the room.

Her teacher was getting worse and worse each time Keika saw her. She loved her teacher in a way, she was still unsure as to whether or not she could love and whether or not she cared about Hitomi-sensei in the same way she had cared about her big brother. She didn't want to see her teacher suffer like this. If only there was a way to get Danzo-sama to allow Hitomi-sensei to retire. But she feared that was impossible.

Keika turned out of the section where Hitomi-sensei's room was and walked back across one of the long bridges that crossed the Disk.

There were sometimes that Keika felt as though she was betraying her teacher by working for Danzo-sama without doing those little acts of defiance like Hitomi-sensei had. But at the same time, Keika knew that Fushidara-nii-san had trusted Danzo-sama and she would follow his word over her teacher's.

She exited the Root base through one of the eastern doors that let out near one of the side doors of Konoha proper. There was the main gate, those two towering red doors facing the north that marked both the civilian entrance and the most easily accessible way into the city. Those were also the doors that an invading force would have to break down in order to enter. There were actually three more entrances to the city, two western gates and one eastern one. To the south was the Hokage monument.

It was a bright sunny day, and Keika could feel the heat warming her. Konoha proper was full of bright sunny days. She remembered a year, when she had been seven, and her training had become so intense that she hadn't been able to go on missions for a whole year, staying in the base underground that whole time.

She walked through a small cropping of forest to the eastern side gate.

It was just an ordinary wooden set of doors in the wall that surrounded Konoha proper, but there were two chunin guards on duty and defiantly a few jonin patrolling nearby, if the chakra signatures Keika sensed meant anything.

One of the guards held out his hand, stopping Keika from walking right past, "Sorry miss, but we're going to have to see some sort of identification," he said, with an honest sort of apology in his eyes, like he was really just a bit annoyed by the whole checking people process and he could see the hitai-ate on her forehead and knew that she was just a kid and it had been kind of a slow day and he was sleepy and a bit cheerful in a tired sort of way and-

Keika blinked and almost recoiled from the shock of so many emotions all at once. "I- sure," she said, looking away from the guard's face and pulling her gate pass from her bag, "Here," she held out the papers, taking care to avoid his face.

The guard did a double take as he looked at her papers, "Welcome back from your mission, jonin-san," he said respectfully, although his eyes wondered how a girl as young as her was a higher rank than himself and oh, that must be so sad, he remembered those children from the war and wow, she must be really strong and-

Damn, there were just too many emotions on this guy! Keika nodded her head and retrieved the papers. What mission? Danzo-sama must have put something random into her pass. After all, once she was an actual member of Konoha proper, there would be no reason for her to need a pass every time she entered and exited the village. "Thank you," she said, stuffing the pass into her bag and hurrying on her way.

The chunin guard opened the gate for her and she stepped into Konoha proper.

She was just in a side street, and tall buildings in a variety of bright shades created walls on both sides of her. Green trees grew amongst the buildings and strong branches and vines wrapped their way around lamp posts and the sides of buildings. Here or there a room would jut out of a building, like it had been built on afterwards and had been made of a different material. Panes of glass at random intervals caught the sunlight and shimmered. From the street ahead of her, she could hear the bustle of people and the sounds of many voices, as well as sense a plethora of weak chakra signatures that meant civilians with a few stronger shinobi chakras mixed in.

It had been so long since she had been in an actual town. The last time she had entered Konoha proper and not one of the estates surrounding it had been during the battle when she was four. The last time she had been in a city this big was two years ago during an undercover mission to Kusa and that had only been quickly passing through the city. She had never actually been amongst the people of a big town since… well… since she had been a civilian herself and lived with her birth parents.

And what had been up with that chunin guard? His emotions were so uncontrolled and untempered. Keika struggled to remember when she had last seen someone who had neither the Root emotion inhibition seal or was afraid and she had been about to kill them. There was Danzo-sama of course, who did not have the seal, but she was used to his flow of emotions and it didn't shock her like that uncontrolled stream of feelings from the guard.

Hopefully the rest of the people in the city wouldn't be like that, Keika prayed as she walked down the alley and entered the main street.

It wasn't like the guard at all.

It was so much worse.

Keika could see every single emotion of every single person passing her by, and there was a constant swarm of civilians perusing the streets, stopping to talk with friends, hurrying to predetermined destinations, stopping to buy fruit from a seller, scolding wandering children, frustrated by their job, happy because of the nice weather, annoyed by a high price. And it wasn't just seeing, it was feeling it herself, and normally she could control that but there were just so many people and so many emotions and it ripped through her like she was just wet paper and the sad and happy and in-between thoughts got into her head and it just didn't stop. Out of instinct, she shut her eyes tightly.

How did Danzo-sama expect her to live here?

She could barely _look_ at these people, let along live among them. These people, civilians and ninja alike, they didn't have any sort of emotional floodgates. There was no fuinjutsu to keep the emotions locked away. Keika had been out of society for too long.

"Shinobi-san," a voice entered her thoughts, "shinobi-san, are you alright?"

Keika opened her eyes, realizing that she had been clutching her head to get rid of the pounding in her brain. There was a young boy, probably nine or so looking up at her with big green eyes and a calm and curious gaze. Keika nodded, "Yes, thanks, just give me a moment," she said, closing her eyes for a second.

Okay, she had managed to do this before, as a kid. She just had to remember it again. All it was had been… thinking around it. Yes, that was it. You feel it and you understand it but you learn to think around it. Keika thought 'okay. I can see all these things, remember? I can see. I can learn not to feel.'

She opened her eyes again and the emotions were duller, or at least, she didn't have to feel them, "Thank you," she said, bowing to the kid, who was flustered, "By the way, could you point me in the direction of the nearest real estate seller?"

The boy pursed his lips and was deep in thought for a moment, "Sure!" he said, smiling with a grin that reached his eyes as well, "There's old man Osamu who runs an apartment building place about…" he thought for a moment again and then pointed to the left, "That way for a while till you come to a red dango shop and then turn right and walk until you see a grey building with a wood roof and a sign for Yasui Apartments," he pointed to the right, "Or if-"

Keika held up a hand, "The first is fine," she said, "Thank you for that information."

The boy looked proud for some reason and flashed his index and middle fingers up before grinning.

Why did he do that with his hands? It wasn't a hand sign for a jutsu, but there couldn't have been any other significance for forming that 'V' shape with his fingers, could there? "What was that, that thing with your fingers?" Keika asked, titling her head as she looked at the kid with curiosity.

He was confused, but answered anyways, "It's a 'V'," he said, "you know, for victory?" he smiled again and said, "Cause I helped out a ninja and all that, I'm totally great! Most of the time ninja know way more than everyone else, Dad says they're real smart and all so that they can do really secretive things."

Keika slowly nodded, "Oh I get it," she said, "Thank you for helping me again," she waved over her shoulder and walked in the direction the boy had specified, keeping her gaze strictly away from faces as much as she could help it, even though she still got some feedback from voices it was easy enough to ignore.

"See ya!" the boy replied, before turning and running off.

She hurried down the street, trying to walk slowly enough to not accidently run into anyone and at the same time walk quickly enough to get out of the crowd as soon as she possibly could. There was too much noise all around her, each voice carrying a strain of emotions and lies. So many lies! Even without watching people's faces, she still kept her eyes open to watch for the red dango store that the boy had told her about so she would not get lost, and her gaze would accidentally catch an eye or a smile and there would be an onslaught of someone else's feelings.

Eventually the red dango store came into view and Keika turned right, looking this time for the apartment building. There it was, tall and grey to the left of the road.

Keika turned down the small path to the building lobby and entered the building. There was a stairwell in the back and a few pretty potted plants at the entrances and the back, and a desk to the right of the door. The place was carpeted with soft gray carpeting and there was a pretty yellow paint on the walls. An old man sat behind the desk, receding hair line and a face full of wrinkles. He was tired and in good spirits. He was also civilian.

"Hello," Keika said softly, walking up to the desk.

The man blinked and looked up at her with a smile that was more in his eyes than on his features, "Hello there, shinobi-san. What can I do for you?" he asked politely. "I'm Osamu, by the way."

"Kamiko," Keika said automatically lying and giving the man a respectful bow, "I was hoping to purchase an apartment from you."

The man slid a heavy file over to the center of the desk and flipped to a page somewhere in the middle, "Pleasure to meet you, Kamiko-chan," he said honestly, dragging his finger down the page before coming to a stop on a line, "Will it be just you?"

She nodded, "Just me."

"Well apartment 14 is free as is 32. Which do you want?" Osamu asked, picking up a pen and dipping the old fashioned thing into an ink well.

"32," Keika replied, wanting the room higher up.

Osamu nodded and wrote down 'Kamiko' neatly near a number 32, "All right," he said, placing the pen down and opening a drawer, "You pay the rent monthly, 2500 ryo a month, upfront payment of 3000 ryo, but you don't pay for this month," he pulled out a key and placed it down on the counter, "There's your room key, there's a laundry machine in the lobby and feel free to ask me anything if you need something."

Keika picked up the key and reached into her bag, pulling out a brand-new wallet. She counted out 3000 and placed it on the counter, "Is mine the only room key?" she asked.

Osamu thought for a moment, looking confused, "No, I have a-"

Keika placed her hand palm up on the counter, "I will need the other keys to the room," she demanded, hating to put the old man on the spot like that. Of course, she did need the key, because she couldn't have anyone snooping through her things, not even an old man who she knew would never do such a thing. She just couldn't have anyone stealing the key. Obviously, if they were any sort of ninja at all, they could easily break in, but breaking in would leave signs that opening the door with a key wouldn't.

Sighing in resignation, the old man pulled out a thick key ring and flipped through the clanging metal to un-hook a second key, "There you are," he said, placing it down in her hand.

Keika closed her hand, "Thank you very much," she said, walking up to her new apartment.

There was a long flight of stairs up to the third floor, but it didn't daunt her. She was used to walking up and down the Disk many times a day, and besides, she would most likely be using the window as her primary means of entering her apartment. Windows were just more convenient.

She walked to the door marked with the number '32' and opened it, stepping inside. It was nice, and definitely a welcome change from living in a tiny and crappy stone Root room like she had been for the past 7 years of her life. There were three rooms, a main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The first two had big wide windows that were partly obscured by trees that had grown up the side of the building. There was a kitchenette unit in the main room and a folded up futon mattress in the bedroom closet.

So this would be her new home for the next god knows how many months? She rather liked it. Keika dropped her bag on the ground and got changed into her standard Anbu uniform, even keeping her kusarigama on her, albeit sealed into a scroll.

Then she opened the bedroom window and jumped onto the nearest rooftop. She had a meeting with the Hokage to get to.

* * *

Konoha proper had some good channels of communication. The Hokage had sent a jonin to escort Keika to his office where he was already waiting for her.

The Hokage was sitting at his desk, his hands folded peacefully on top of a few papers, and he had a serious look in his eyes. Keika liked him from the start. There wasn't any deception in his gaze, he was honestly hoping to accept Keika peacefully into the ranks of Anbu and he wasn't intending to lie to her or trick her into anything. There was just a sort of hope for the best and do what you can attitude about him, and Keika found herself readily accepting that.

"You must be the shinobi of Danzo's," the Hokage said as a greeting, "Kamiko, was it?"

Keika bowed respectfully to the man and pulled out her papers, placing them on the desk, "Yes, Hokage-sama," she said, "It is an honor to finally meet you,"

There was a note of melancholy on his face as he replied, "Likewise. I have heard that you are a promising chunin, although your rank would be more accurately labeled as jonin, is that correct? Danzo seemed to indicate that you were a prodigy and that you had a very high mission success rate."

"Danzo-sama pontificates often," Keika replied, speaking honestly, although she was a little surprised at that last comment of her boss's, "I have failed missions before, as has everyone. And yes, I suppose that my rank would be accurately described as jonin, although I have not taken the test for that yet due to a seemingly constant influx of missions."

The Hokage smiled for a moment, although it was more false than anything, "Honesty, huh? I appreciate that. You are right of course, no one has a mission record of one hundred percent, there are always failures and blunders, if there weren't, then we wouldn't be human."

Keika nodded, before taking a deep breath and steeling her nerves. She had to tell the Hokage. She had to be seen as a neutral party. "I think that you are intelligent Hokage-sama, and you are probably aware or at least suspicious of Danzo-sama's motivations for sending me to be a member of an elite squad. I would just like you to know that while I do work for Danzo-sama, I work first for Konoha, and I will not betray its Hokage or its secrets."

The Hokage looked relieved and at the same time, intrigued. His eyes flashed with surprise and he said with a smile, "I am very glad to hear that, Kamiko-chan. Now can I be sure that you won't go telling me secrets to Danzo?"

She nodded again, "Yes. I won't sell you out."

"Any chance I can persuade you to join Konoha permanently?" the Hokage asked seriously, placing his pipe down on the table.

"No," Keika replied, thinking of her brother, "Someone dear to me wanted me to join Root and I will not leave without a very good reason." Like her brother coming back from the dead and telling her not to.

He looked understandably disappointed, and yet even more curious because of it, "Ah well, I hope you may one day be persuaded to change your mind. As it is, I am glad that you have decided to come forward as neutral in this political mess. It certainly simplifies things. Politics can get absurdly complicated at times and having even one piece off the board lightens the weight on an old man's back. Of course, I won't be able to actually trust you until you have proven that you won't run off to Danzo with a head full of secrets, but not actively suspecting you will make the next few months go easier on the both of us."

Keika could understand that. She had not expected to be cleared of all suspicion, that would be a foolish thought, but she had nothing to fear. She had been honest. "I have nothing to fear," she said out loud, "I was honest."

The Hokage laughed, cheerful but with a slightly bitter edge, "It really is good to meet someone like you," he turned more serious and placed the pipe back in his mouth, "As for your team. I want you to be ready tomorrow. Expect a mission soon. To properly enter Anbu, you need a recommendation from someone jonin level or higher, and in this case I am making the executive decision not to count Danzo's words of praise. This will be your trial mission. If you succeed or do very well, then you will be properly inducted into Anbu and given your tattoo. And make no mistake, you will be placed on a team with three of my best, and the captain has been told to suspect you."

"That will be fine," Keika said, "I have nothing to hide and I am here to work, not make friends. Just tell me who I will be working with and I will do so."

"As long as you are unconcerned," the Hokage said before continuing, "Your teammates. I have placed you under Hatake Kakashi, your team captain. You will be working with Tenzo and Uchiha Itachi."


	16. The Anti-Orochimaru Anbu

**Improbability **

**16**

**The Anti-Orochimaru Anbu**

At approximately two in the morning on the next day, an Anbu wearing a red and green cat mask tapped on Keika' window with a scroll containing her new Anbu gear and her own mask, as well as instructions to rendezvous with her team at the south western entrance in ten minutes.

Keika hadn't been asleep. She had been wide awake. She took the sealing scroll hurriedly and changed into the Anbu uniform. It didn't differ very much from the Root one, although she noticed that her new uniform fit better and the armor was made of slightly different materials. She just slung her kusarigama across her back and she was ready. Her mask had yellow and red markings denoting a sparrow. When Keika put the mask on, she realized that she looked like a proper member of Anbu, not just a spy sent by Danzo. All she was missing was the tattoo.

Pinning her hair up with one hand, she opened the window and stepped onto the ledge, glad that her new place had such a high window. Then she shut the window behind her and jumped off into the branches of a nearby tree.

The village was dead silent as she streaked across the rooftops. There were the clicks and chirps of night creatures, and Keika caught sight of a few chunin patrol squads- there was probably an Anbu squad out there somewhere, but the only difference was that Anbu were too skilled to be seen. Keika leapt onto the red roof of a shop and landed silently on the ground, facing the exit that she had been assigned to go to.

Remembering the Hokage's warning that the team captain was aware that she was Root and had been instructed to be suspicious of her, Keika took care to walk in the open towards the gate, not concealing her presence how she normally did.

When she arrived at the small wooden gate, three figures dropped down from the tree tops to face her. One was the same Anbu who had delivered her scroll earlier, the man in the red and green cat mask, but the other two wore a dog mask and weasel mask, respectively. That must be Tenzo-san and Itachi.

Keika bowed "I take it that you are my new team?" she asked, keeping her voice as respectful as possible. "I'm the new member. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"I'm the captain," the man in the dog mask said, basically announcing himself as Hatake Kakashi-san, "Pleasure to meet you too. Now, shall we get going?" he asked, caution written carefully into his one visible eye, "It is my understanding that you have not yet been briefed on the mission parameters, is that right, Sparrow-san?"

Keika nodded, "I was told nothing, only that you would tell me." These people didn't trust her, that much was obvious and she thought no less of them for it because she would do the same if she were them.

Hatake-san walked through the exit with the other three following, "That's fine," he said, "I'll brief you when we arrive."

In a flash, the four of them took to the trees.

After a minute of running through the branches of the tall trees surrounding Konoha, it became obviously apparent to Keika that no matter how much she might have looked like a member of Anbu, she really wasn't one at all. Hatake-san took the lead right away, and Itachi and Tenzo-san followed behind and to the sides of their captain. It was a formation so practiced and well-rehearsed that Keika knew had no place for her in it. She had been doing solo missions for a very long time, but it was becoming clear now that things in Konoha proper did not work the same way that they did in Root.

In Root, she had taken whatever missions were available and for her skill level. With a higher ranked mission, she might have been accompanied by a higher ranked shinobi or two to form a squad, but it was always temporary and whatever teamwork they had dissolved the moment Keika was reassigned for a new mission. That was why in Root, most missions given out were solo missions, or ones given to an instructor and apprentice. She supposed that the instructor-apprentice formation was similar to how Konoha-proper did things, with a jonin sensei and a squad of three. The only difference was that in Root, there were few who became teachers, and most recruits had about a year or two of instruction before placed on teams with older ninja and given instruction from them. If a ninja could not learn to teach themselves the necessary skills to survive, then they had no place in Root.

Again, as with most things and as with this new team of hers, Keika was the exception. She had never not had a teacher during her time in Root, even if it was only for a few hours of instruction between missions. She had also learned directly from Danzo-sama, which were the lessons during which she improved the most. Danzo-sama would only train a person so intensely if he took a personal interest in them. And Keika, with her eyes, was very interesting to him.

Her foot landed on a tree branch and she paused for a moment before falling in at the back of the group. She supposed that Root did not teach strict formations like Konoha proper did. But for the life of her she couldn't realize why Danzo-sama hadn't instructed her in these formations before sending her in.

"Taishou," Keika asked, projecting her voice a little louder, "Can you at least tell me where we are going at least?"

Hatake-san didn't glance back but he did reply thankfully, "Tanigakure."

"Thank you…" Keika said, still annoyed, although a good portion of that might have been Hatake-san's own annoyance at her. Or was it suspicion? It was a little difficult to tell, what with only having a voice to go by and no face and a maximum of one visible eye.

Why Tanigakure? Keika honestly wished that this new team would at least trust her a little bit, enough at least to tell her of her mission before leaving the village and going on it. Had she really been a spy, then she would be more patient with their caution. Actually, it did make perfect sense why they would refrain from telling her anything at all, to prevent her from sending information back to Danzo-sama that could potentially compromise the mission. At least she herself knew that she was no spy. Or at least, not one who actually did the job assigned to her. Did that make her a double agent or just a failure of a shinobi?

And was her being a spy and therefore under suspicion the reason that Itachi hadn't said anything yet? Keika wished that he would at least acknowledge the fact that she was there. After all, she had spent so long training and getting stronger to fulfill her promise.

* * *

In the late hours of the evening, the team finally arrived at Tanigakure.

Hatake-san stopped them about a mile outside the village. "All right," he said, "Remember, this assignment is covert, so we will enter the village in twenty minute intervals in teams of two. Me and Cat-san will enter first, and then Weasel-san and Sparrow-san will follow later. Me and Cat-san will enter an inn and the other two will follow. Book a room for a week and pay up front," he ordered, "Henge into something civilian and nondescript before entering and act casual."

Aw crap. The very first thing her new team asked her to do and Keika couldn't do it. Freaking henge, making everything complicated. The only transformation that she could do was a very basic change, making her eyes plain grey instead of her freaky kekkei genkai. And she was pretty sure that that was more of a chakra construct over her eyes, instead of an actual illusion.

Hatake-san and Tenzo-san both held up a handsign. A moment later, there was a slight fluctuation of chakra. They must have just applied the transformation. And Keika couldn't see it. Well, at least she would have no trouble picking them out in a crowded village.

"All right," Hatake-san said, "See you two in twenty minutes." That said, he and Tenzo-san hurried off towards the smaller hidden village of Tanigakure.

Keika pulled a scroll out of her bag and started unrolling it, looking for a particular seal.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked her, leaning against a tree and watching curiously as she looked through her scroll.

"Getting something nondescript, like Taishou said," Keika replied, finally finding the right seal and with a small press of chakra, she unsealed a set of civilian clothing and a brown wig. Since she couldn't use henge, she had created a bunch of disguises that she could use on infiltration missions. And the only advantage of this was that the disguise was physical, so there was no chance of a chakra sensor discovering an illusion or genjutsu, "Mind looking away? I need to change."

He turned around and must have closed his eyes, "And you're not performing henge because…?"

Keika sighed as she hurriedly took off her Anbu armor, "Because…" She shrugged a plain grey jacket on and wondered if it was okay to tell Itachi. Of course, even if he didn't know that she was Keika yet, she still trusted him and their promise to each other still stood. Truth then, and hope that he did not inform anyone else, "I… I am incapable of performing a henge."

"… I see." Itachi replied simply.

Keika tugged the senbon out of her hair and pulled on the brown wig, taking a moment to adjust it. She placed the senbon in one of the hidden pockets in her skirt, the one that contained her equipment all sealed into scrolls. Then she grabbed another scroll, unsealing what looked like a face. She had developed this chakra control exercise to help assist her disguises. Make-up could be used to make a person look very different from their usual selves, but make-up took time to put on and time to take off. So Keika developed a technique where she put on make-up, and then leaked a thin layer of chakra over her face, separating the make-up from her skin while not having the powders loose shape. In essence, it was just a chakra stabilized mask. She took the 'false face' and placed it on her own, then releasing the chakra and re-absorbing it into her skin. Although she couldn't see herself, she knew that she looked like she had a thinner face and smaller eyes. Perfect.

"Okay, you can turn around," she said, shaking out her skirt and tugging on the strands of brown hair.

Itachi turned around, "Your hair is off center," he pointed out.

"Thanks…" Keika muttered, fixing her wig again, "How do I look now?"

"Fine," he replied, and then asked, his voice curious but obviously trying not to be rude, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you never learn henge?"

Keika sighed and self-consciously stared at her hands. Admitting her weaknesses was like saying that she had failed, that she couldn't fulfill her promise, that she was a pathetic ninja who couldn't even do the bare basics. "Sorry… I… well… I did learn it. I just can't _do_ it. I can't do henge, or genjutsu and I can barely do a basic kage bunshin. I'm kind of a failure. I probably don't even belong in Anbu." She was just there because she could see the difference between truths and lies.

Surprise, and then confusion flashed through his eyes, and even though his face was hidden, Keika could still get a pretty good read off him from just his eyes, "That is contradictory, Sparrow-san. If you are a failure, then you would not be in Anbu."

Keika felt like smiling, only for some reason her lips refused to cooperate so she hoped that he could read emotions a little from her eyes, "Thanks…" she said gratefully. Even though she knew that she really was kind of a failure, she could tell that there had been no lie or deception in his statement. He honestly believe that she was not a failure. That was reassuring, because even though she believed the exact opposite, it was nice to know that the one person who really counted thought that she wasn't a failure.

"It's time," he said, holding out a hand, "We should go and join up with Taishou."

Keika didn't ask about his henge, because she knew that he must have performed it and she wouldn't have been able to see it either way. She took his hand and pulled herself up, "Thanks. Let's go."

Tanigakure was one of the smaller hidden villages. It had no kage like the big five, but it did have an elected leader and a civilian council, much like Konoha. Over the years, its shinobi force had dwindled and its civilian population had grown. Due to the warm and pleasant climate and the very beautiful countryside, the village had turned mostly away from being a shinobi village and had become more of a resort. Similar to the no longer hidden village of Yugakure, it was a town of resorts and hotels and vacation hot spots. Unlike Yugakure, Tanigakure still accepted missions and although their shinobi forces had grown smaller, it had not vanished.

The town had grown along the sides of a great big river, using two floodgates on either side to allow boats in and out. There was a tall wooden wall made of logs running all around the village and from what Keika could see as she and Itachi walked up to the village, there were teams of probably chunin patrolling along the top of the wall. There were no big gates like in Konoha, just a great big gap in the wall with a few chunin gate guards.

There were a couple of farmers with wagons and a few civilians also on the roads to Tanigakure, so the two of them blended in fine. The chunin guards didn't even look their way twice as Itachi and Keika walked through the gates.

"Where are we supposed to meet up with the rest?" Keika asked, keeping her voice casual and her face looking as unsuspicious as possible.

Itachi looked around the tall buildings that surrounded them, his gaze landing on the sign of an inn just a block away from the entrance, "There," he said, "That's the inn Taishou told us to go to."

Looked like they really weren't going to tell Keika anything until they were certain that they could trust her. She didn't know anything about this mission at all and would be completely lost without Itachi. Why had Danzo-sama given her this job? It was clear that she would not be trusted with important secrets until at least a year or two of working on this team. Unless… this was a longer term mission than she had originally thought. How long was Danzo-sama intending for her to be undercover? How long was he intending for her to be a spy?

"I see," Keika said quietly as they walked towards the door of the friendly looking inn.

A cheerful young woman behind a desk greeted them as they walked in, "Hello and welcome to Tanigakure! How may I help you?"

"A room for two please," Itachi said, placing some money down on the counter.

She swept the money into a till with expert precision and held out a room key, "Here you go, enjoy your stay!"

It turned out that Kakashi was coincidentally staying in the room right across the hall from them, another sign that this mission had been planned out long before Keika came into the picture. And another sign that she had no business being here.

The inn had six stories, and their rooms were conveniently stationed on the top floor. Again, for the same reason that Keika wanted her apartment to be as high up as possible. Ninja liked rooms with windows that were hard to get to. Of course, there were only so few robbers that would be deterred by a tricky to get to window, but high places were also just easier for making a quick getaway.

Itachi knocked once on Kakashi's door and after a moment Kakashi opened it. "Come on in," he said with a smile.

Again, Keika stayed silent, wondering if Kakashi had been wearing a henge this whole time or had recently taken his illusion off. Either way, she had no clue and figured that it would be best simply to keep her mouth shut. She had been given the direct order to not show her kekkei genaki to anyone, and even though this particular mission was a bit confusing, there was no reason to doubt Danzo-sama's direct orders.

Kakashi shut the door behind them and locked it. Tenzo was in the room as well, sitting in one of the chairs and shorting through a storage scroll that was almost as tall as he was.

Keika quickly took off the wig and the false-face makeup, storing them back into one of her scrolls. "So are you all going to tell me what the mission is about or are you going to make me guess for the rest of the job?" she asked, feeling more than a tad annoyed.

"Of course," Kakashi said, looking offended that she had even suggested such a thing, although Keika could see that he was acting, "By the way," he asked, "I never caught your name."

Itachi practically huffed in exasperation, "She didn't give it. Neither did the rest of us, by the way."

Kakashi had the decency to look embarrassed, or at least try to, because Keika labeled it as an obvious lie, "Ah right, I forgot," he looked Keika right in the eye, and she wondered why he had one eye covered, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, codename Hound."

Tenzo didn't stand, but he did roll up his scroll, "I am Tenzo, codename Red Cat."

"Uchiha Itachi," he said, and Keika felt the tiniest chakra flicker and she realized that he must have dropped his henge, "Codename Weasel."

Keika bowed to the three in the room, remembered the orders given to her by Danzo-sama and trying very hard not to tell these people her real name, if only because Itachi seemed not to recognize her and she kept wondering why. Keika actually felt happy. All these years, she had been training and getting stronger, as strong as she possibly could, all because she had made a promise years ago to do so. And now she had finally found Itachi again! She could finally fulfill her promise. They could make the world a better place, a place where there would be no war. "It is a pleasure to meet you all," Keika said quietly, "I am Kamiko, codename Sparrow."

Kakashi nodded, "Please, sit," he said, relaxing to sit cross legged on one of the beds, "I need to brief you all on the mission."

All? Keika raised an eyebrow, "I assumed that I had been the only one not briefed?"

He was a little surprised that she had noticed this, but continued on as if her guess was normal, "No, you are partially correct. At a guess, the rest of the team is aware of why we are here. The purpose of the formation of this squad is not only to function as a team of high-ranking Anbu members, but also to complete a very specific task assigned to us by the Hokage," at Keika's blank stare he elaborated, "To track down and assassinate Orochimaru, former Sanin of Konoha and a missing nin."

"And I would assume that is the goal of this particular mission?" Keika asked, feeling a little overwhelmed.

Orochimaru was a powerful enemy, and even though she knew from everything she had ever heard about that he was a heartless bastard, it was still a little bit unnerving to know that her new mission was tracking him down and killing him. How were they going to do this? A former Sanin wouldn't make obvious mistakes, and it would be very difficult to find him. And there was something nagging at the edge of Keika's brain, some half-remembered memory about Orochimaru that somehow connected to her teacher, Hitomi-sensei. The same kind of thing that had her wondering if she had met Kakashi before.

Kakashi nodded, "The Hokage received intel that one of Orochimaru's operatives would be traveling through Tanigakure. We don't know why, but we do know when. Sometime in the next few days, Orochimaru's man is going to be in Tanigakure and will be meeting with an underground supplier."

"A supplier?" Itachi asked, "Who?"

"No idea," the captain replied, "Tanigakure does have a huge underground black market, it could be anyone. The information came from a genin actually, just a kid on a delivery mission who overheard a conversation that he shouldn't have. We have to move quickly, otherwise Orochimaru's trail will get cold and we'll have to start over again."

Tenzo crossed his arms and looked deep in thought, "If we don't know who the supplier is or who the operative is, how are we going to find this person?"

"We have a few things to go on," Kakashi said, slightly defensively, "The operative is male, the genin clearly overhead 'he'. A shinobi as well, from Kusagakure. That's not much to go on, any spy of Orochimaru's would be unlikely to wear a hitai-ate. It'll be difficult to find this person by appearance."

Keika's mouth contorted into a frown as she thought, "So… chakra signature then?"

"Yeah," Tenzo said, although he looked very doubtful, "Only there's bound to be dozens, if not hundreds of shinobi going through Tanigakure in the coming week."

"By behavioral patterns?" she tried again, glancing at Kakashi to see if their captain had an idea. "That would be harder of course," she added, mostly to herself, "But not impossible."

Kakashi looked approvingly at her as he confirmed that, "Behavior, mostly. I will also be sending a dog summons to see if we can track this guy using scent."

"But…" Keika felt like she was missing something, "I can't speak for the rest of you, but picking out one shinobi by only observing suspicious behavior patterns would be like looking for a needle in a haystack," she looked over at Itachi, "I know that the sharingan can pick up tiny behavioral quirks," and her own kekkei genaki would be extremely useful, "But that's only one of us, and if three people walk around with nin-dogs, surely the operative would get suspicious?"

Itachi nodded in agreement, "We will use teams, most likely with taishou and I on our own and Tenzo-san and Kamiko-san as a team with a nin-dog."

"Not quite," Kakashi almost looked amused, although it was mostly covered up by suspicion, suspicion directed towards Keika, "Tenzo and I will be on our own. I'll be supplying Tenzo with a nin-dog. You and Kamiko-chan will be on a team."

Because Kakashi couldn't let her go off on her own. She needed to be kept under constant watch with these people, didn't she?

"Okay," she replied, and then asked Kakashi, "You have the sharingan as well, don't you?" she remembered that, from both a bingo book entry and from somewhere else that she was failing to remember.

He nodded, but his visible eye showed a total reluctance to speak any more on the subject. Hmm… so something about that memory was painful for him. She wondered what.

"Get a good night's sleep guys. We start tomorrow," Kakashi finished.


	17. Count to Three

**Count to Three**

* * *

Keika was _hot_.

Not that way. She was physically too hot, her wig too itchy, her stupid make-up making her nose itch, and the ice in her iced tea was turning back into water, making the tea diluted. Lazily, she stirred her tea with a plastic straw and tried to shrink into a small and highly compressible ball of something cold. It wasn't working. She sighed, perhaps for the third time in the past four minutes, and proper her elbows up on the table and leaned on the palm of her hand.

"See anything?" she asked Itachi.

He shook his head and took a sip of tea, "No."

The two of them had been playing the part of tourists for the day, wandering around Tanigakure and successfully appearing as if they had no particular reason for the stops they made. They had visited a popular breakfast place in the morning, and done some slow-going window shopping before stopping at this café for lunch. It would have been annoyingly close to a date if the two of them hadn't been on a constant look out for Orochimaru's spy.

In reality, every place they had gone to had been crowded and filled with people. Itachi had a brilliant eye for being able to pick out the roads with the most people on them and then finding places where it would be easy to people watch. Like this café, which was on Tanigakure's main road and positively brimming with people. Unfortunately, or at least so in Keika's eyes, they had sat outside. Yes, there was an umbrella casting shade over the table and yes, there was some very delicious iced tea served here, but it was still outside on a hot and sunny day and it was making Keika feel like she would melt at any second, just like the now-gone ice in her tea.

And now she was certain that Itachi didn't remember her at all. Or at least, he hadn't realized that Keika and Kamiko were one and the same person.

Honestly, Keika couldn't blame him. It had been years since she had seen him, and from what she had heard, Hitomi-sensei ended up having to tell Minato-sensei that Keika had died in battle. It wasn't hard to guess that perhaps Itachi had ended up hearing that news as well. When Keika had glanced in the mirror last night – on accident, as she hated mirrors – she had realized just how much she had changed. She could barely remember the bright, sun-kissed child she had once been. Now, her skin was pale, her hair almost white blond with far less yellow, and her features had lost the roundness of a child far too quickly, quicker than normal. She barely recognized herself.

"So how long have you been in Anbu?" Keika asked Itachi, surprising even herself when she spoke up.

There was a moment of pause before he replied, "Three months."

Keika nodded to herself, "And you're… twelve, right?"

"Yes," he seemed to think everything he said through at least twenty times before he said it, Keika noticed, even the simple things like his age. "And you?" he asked, only partly curious, although that part was strangely curious.

Keika took a hearty gulp of tea, "Eleven. Twelve in…" she thought for a moment, counting the days till her birthday, "Two and a half weeks."

Her eyes locked onto a man walking a fair distance away from them. "Take a look at that guy," she said casually to Itachi, as if discussing the weather, and just vaguely flickered her eyes in the direction of the man, "Kusa shinobi obviously, but way too tense for a normal mission."

Itachi glanced in the man's direction for a mere fraction of a second. Seriously, if Keika had blinked, she would have missed it. "No. Looks like just nerves," he replied.

"Oh yeah, you're right," Keika said, taking a second look at him and realizing her mistake. "That chakra is too weak, even if he was masking it, and from what I've heard Orochimaru wouldn't accept a weak operative. I thought that man was being secretive, but it looks like he's just worried over leaving his wife alone," she frowned and squinted minutely, "No wait, make that his mistress."

Itachi's red and black gaze fell to her, and there was a little bit of caution in his eyes that hadn't been there before, "You are quite good," he said simply.

"Thank you," she replied with a small smile.

There was another pause, during which Keika caught the eye of a waitress and signaled her over to get more iced tea. So what if Itachi didn't recognize her? Of course, Keika couldn't come right out and say 'hi, my name is Okugi Keika, that four year old girl you met years and years ago'. But, if she could make him suspect that say, her eyes weren't quite right, or she acted familiarly, then he would remember her and Keika wouldn't have to violate any orders. She had promised herself that she would obey Danzo-sama's orders, even though Hitomi-sensei always tried her level best not to. To an extent, Keika did trust him, or at least, Fushidara-nii-san had trusted him, and that was good enough for her.

Of course, that wasn't to say that she didn't have her suspicions, and she wasn't exactly a huge supporter of some of the sealing methods he practiced, but living in Root had been the only life that she had ever really known. Her biological parents were nothing like a family, and even if her big brother was dead now, he was still more of a family than her mother and father and he had wanted her in Root.

"I was wondering," she said quietly, glancing around to make sure that no one was listening to their conversation, "How does the sharingan help in reading faces? I understand a little about the precognition in fighting, but I am unsure how it would be useful in this situation."

Wariness fell over Itachi's eyes, but there was curiosity in there that seemed to rule out the wariness, "The sharingan picks out minute actions and facial expressions. That is how the battle precognition works as well. Our eyes can see the slightest movement and commit it to memory."

Interesting, so that was how the whole 'predict your opponents move' worked. Hitomi-sensei had only explained a little bit about how the sharingan worked, mostly because she didn't know much, but Danzo-sama had ordered her to give instructions to Keika. Even though the Uchiha were allied with Konoha, Danzo-sama had insisted that Keika learn each clan's styles inside and out, from both the clans in Konoha and the clans in other villages. "Does that work with being able to distinguish truths from lies?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "Within reason."

"I see…" she said quietly, more to herself than to Itachi. Maybe that was how her eyes worked as well? Despite knowing exactly what she could do and see, she was unsure as to how her eyes operated and why certain abilities such as reading emotions had become connected to reading seal work.

Itachi's eyes flickered to a point behind Keika's shoulder, "There, do not turn around, but watch. A Kumo shinobi is about to approach you from the right. He is talking to a business man in a suit, who's carrying a package."

There was a tense moment of silence, in which Keika listened carefully to the footsteps behind her.

The two men were in her line of sight, and Keika looked over for a moment to check it out. There was a civilian in a suit alright, and he was with a shinobi but… "I don't see anyone from Kumo," she said, puzzled.

The shinobi handed the civilian a list and the package changed hands. The two walked away from each other. The civilian was both satisfied at the completion of the deal and terrified of the dealer, whereas the shinobi seemed to be rather like Root shinobi, and the emotional feed that Keika was getting off of him was all screwed up. Surely that was the suspicious ninja Itachi had mentioned? If so, then he must have been wearing a henge powerful enough to fool the sharingan.

"Was that the deal? Did we miss it?" Keika asked worriedly, trying to look for the Kusa shinobi that they had missed.

Itachi pressed a finger to the transmitter in his ear, sending the message to Kakashi on the other end, "A deal was made right in front of us. One shinobi, the other was civilian. Possibly from Kumo."

Keika shook her head, "No, I saw that he was from Kusa. That must have been a henge."

"-Or from Kusa," Itachi added, "Should we follow?"

There was a buzz of noise from the other end as Kakashi gave the order to follow the shinobi. The captain would rendezvous with Tenzo and they would follow the civilian.

Two minutes later, when the waitress returned to their table, all the girl found was a stack of ryo and two empty seats.

* * *

The Kusa shinobi walked calmly down the back alleyway. In this part of Tanigakure, there were few on the streets and none on this one. He was confident that he was alone, and the thought seemed to invigorate him. He walked with caution, keeping an eye out at all times and constantly scanning the surroundings. His mission here was top secret, and he couldn't let anyone find out that he was even here, let alone why he was here or who had sent him. He kept a tight hold on the package under his arm, the one that the civilian supplier had given him earlier and he dared not lose it. His fear was not directly losing the package per say, but he was more afraid of what his boss would do to him if he lost it.

Keika saw all this and more as she watched from the rooftops.

She nodded to Itachi, who was perched on the other end of the alleyway. He had wrapped a genjutsu around the both of them to keep them hidden, and so far it seemed to be highly effective, as their target hadn't even noticed that he was being followed.

This was refreshing. Nice, simple, easy. Keika was completely in her element, sliding her feet silently across the roof as she followed the shinobi, keeping her breathing as near silent as possible, feeling like she was excelling for once. The weight of her kusarigama rested on her back and she kept one hand close to the handle, ready to fight at any moment.

The man paused for a split second, a fraction of a moment and Keika almost missed it. Then, he continued moving on as if nothing had happened. Except there was a slight tense in his stance, his muscles just a tiny bit more rigid, and it he was deliberately keeping his eyes from darting about, trying to prevent them from thinking he knew they were there.

Keika knew better. He had spotted them.

Using the standard Konoha sign language, she informed Itachi of this, following up with a question of whether or not to confront the man now or wait.

There was no answer, as the Itachi across the alley suddenly vanished.

A moment later, he reappeared with a kunai placed to the target's throat. There was a slight flicker in chakra, and, realizing Itachi must have dropped the concealment genjutsu, Keika dropped from the rooftop as well.

The shinobi's eyes widened in fear, "P-please- I- don't kill me!" he sputtered, trying to struggle against Itachi's kunai while not getting his throat sliced open in the process. But still, the man was not directly scared of them. Oh, there were buckets of fear in his eyes certainly, and there was no confidence that might mean he thought he could escape them, but the fear still didn't seem to directly be a fear of them. He was afraid of someone else. His boss? Most likely.

"You work for Orochimaru," Itachi stated calmly, not even bothering to phrase it as a question.

The man's eyes went wide, "No- I- I don't! I swear- I-!"

Keika sighed at the too-obvious lie, "Can you tie him up?" she asked calmly, "I'll get the answers out of him in a moment."

Giving her a cautious and yet evaluating look, Itachi removed the kunai from the man's neck. Before the target could breathe a sigh of relief however, his hands and feet were bound and he was forced to the cold stone ground.

Keika kneeled down in front of the man and grabbed him by the hair, pulling his face upwards so that she could have a good look at his emotions. "Right," she said, staring into his eyes, "What is your name?" she asked.

He looked surprised, "I- Isamu-" he managed to get out.

"Lie," Keika said dully, "Look, why don't you tell me your _real_ name, and then we can get started?" When the man looked clearly shocked and hesitant to say anything, she leaned a little bit closer and put the slightest of smiles on her face, unnerving him, "It's just a simple name. We won't kill you with it."

"N-Norio," the target said. He looked as though he had just killed himself doing it, but at least he was telling the truth and giving Keika his real name.

She dropped the smile, "Nice to meet you, Norio-san," she said, before getting to what really mattered, "Let's begin, shall we? As my partner said, we do know that you are working for Orochimaru. We know-"

Poor Norio looked utterly terrified at that last statement, "No- I don't work for Orochimaru! I-"

"Lie," she repeated, "We know that you work for Orochimaru. We also know that you have just made an underground deal with a black market supplier in this village. What we don't know is what was in the package you got from him, and what was on that paper you gave him. So start talking."

He said nothing, but the look of utter terror on his face only grew.

"Listen," she said, keeping her voice calm and steady, "You are not scared of us all that much, are you? You are more scared of Orochimaru and what he will do to you once he finds out that you have been captured and I cannot blame you for that because he has a fearsome reputation and I do not think he would take such news well. However, if you do not talk, we will do our very best to make sure that you fear _us_ greater than you fear Orochimaru. We can do it too. Drag you back to Konoha, drop you into T&I, and you would be screaming in an instant. But that would delay us. You can simply tell us everything and we can make sure that you will not have anything to fear from Orochimaru ever again," she gave the grip on his hair a firm tug, "Do we have a deal?"

Norio was completely torn for a few moments, "I- I don't know much, but I was instructed to deliver a list to the dealer. I don't know what was on it or what's in the package- I swear! I was supposed to deliver the package to Orochimaru, but I don't know why!"

That was the truth, although he still was holding back information, "Good, you are learning," Keika said, "Now, tell me what it is that you are not telling me."

His eyes began to flitter about the alleyway, "I… this is the third deal this month. Whatever is in the package – because believe me, I don't know! It… it's been delivered before. Always the same weight and size-"

"I see," Keika said with a smile, "Now, do you think that there is anything else that we might want to know?" That was always how she ended these things, because even if they said absolutely nothing, their eyes would always betray them. If they knew that there were still secrets that they were hiding, then Keika would continue.

He shook his head, looking as though he might be sick if he opened his mouth again.

Biting her lip in annoyance, Keika continued, "Lie, Norio-san," She leaned in close so that she was eye to eye with him, her dull grey henged eyes staring into plain brown afraid ones, "I am not going to let you go until I get all the answers I want. Make this less difficult and tell me everything."

Norio said nothing, only shaking silently.

Keika slowly pulled out a kunai knife and placed the sharp point on his forehead, right between his eyes, "I will count to three."

This was the part that she hated the most. She had always been the one to do interrogations, no matter what team she was on or what the mission was, she was always assigned to this job. Her eyes enabled her to get the best results, always correct information, and she was an expert at picking out what places on the body to cut that would elicit the best results. But still, that didn't mean that she liked doing this. She didn't want to see that great fear and horrendous pain because it reflected bright in her eyes and in some way it felt like _her_ pain and _her _fear and it was made all the worse because she knew that it was her own hand that caused it. But it was something that she had to do. Part of her job, part of what her life was.

"One," she began, pressing the point deeper into his skin.

Heavy beads of sweat rolled off his forehead. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to say anything, not a single thing, but the fear was boiling him.

"Two," she twisted the knife the tiniest bit, drawing a small drop of blood.

The blood trickled into his wide scared eyes, but still his mouth kept shut.

"Thr-"

"A list!" he gasped out, finally breaking his petrified silence, "There's a list!" he nodded his head slightly to his right pocket, "In my pocket, a list of the next three hideouts that Orochimaru-sama is going to visit! I had to keep it safe so that I could make the deliveries! He doesn't stay in one place for very long, but that was where I was supposed to deliver the packages!"

Still keeping the kunai right between his eyes, Keika reached into his pocket and, sure enough, pulled out a small sheet of crumpled paper. There were three small locations written down in pencil.

Keika gave the man a false smile, "Thank you very much for your help. Is that all?"

He nodded, still shaking and still very much afraid, although now it was less so of them and more so of Orochimaru once he found out.

"Good, that _was_ true this time," she said, straightening up, "Thank you very much for your cooperation, Norio-san."

She turned to Itachi and held out the list, "What should we do now?" she asked, "Do we meet up with Taishou?"

He carefully took the list and looked it over, "I kept the communication channels open during your conversation. Kakashi-taishou should already be aware of the situation, unless he was otherwise occupied with his target," his eyes narrowed as he read over the list and something akin to annoyance flashed through his gaze, "This list… One base near Kusa, the other two are in very close proximity to Konoha. The Hokage will want to hear about this."

Two bases near Konoha? That was so improbable that it should really be impossible. When the Hokage caught onto Orochimaru's twisted experiments and attempted to apprehend him, Orochimaru had fled. Surely the missing sanin would have known better than to place two of his hideouts near the very village that he fled from? And how could Konoha's security have been so lax as to overlook this? "… I see," she said, then glanced over her shoulder at the quivering Norio, "Do we want to leave a message for Orochimaru or be quiet?"

"Quiet, preferably," Itachi replied, folding the list neatly in half twice before placing it in his pocket, "Even though Tanigakure's shinobi forces are hardly an issue, we do not need the attention."

Keika pulled out a sealing scroll, "Understood."

The man that they had captured was not a stupid man, even though he had worked for Orochimaru and working for a person like that voluntarily certainly says a thing or two about a person's intelligence. "Wait- you don't-" he began to tremble and tug desperately on the ropes that bound him, "You can't- You can't kill me! You said- you said I'd be safe!"

When Keika turned back to him, her hands already winding together to form a simple seal, she made an effort not to look in his eyes. She was a despicable coward, and she knew it. She could not stand to see the fear, not fear like this, this sort of terrified fear where the person knew that they were about to die and there was nothing they could do- no, that sort of fear cut her to the bone. "Sorry," she said, "But I was lying."

And then she pressed her hands to his temples and quietly and neatly incinerated the body.

In a flash of white paper she had the scroll open and then with a twist of chakra sealed away the body. Simple and easy and no mess for Orochimaru to get wind of. "Our orders?" she asked Itachi, drawing a black line of ink around the scroll, the mark that it contained a dead body.

He looked away, towards the major city, "The captain retrieved a list from the civilian dealer. We are to rendezvous with him and Tenzo as soon as possible."

* * *

"- Formaldehyde, sorbic acid, potassium hydrogen sulfite, phosphorus trichloride," Kakashi read off the list.

Tenzo frowned, from confusion but also from worry, "It was a list of _chemicals?_"

Kakashi nodded, a grim expression falling over his face that Keika did not fail to notice, "Orochimaru is continuing his experiments it would seem. Getting drugs and chemicals off the black market certainly would be more discreet than from a legal supplier, and he would not have to go through proper security clearance and background checks."

Keika and Itachi had met up with Kakashi and Tenzo back at the hotel and were now taking what might pass as a break in Kakashi's room while they shared the information they had gathered.

"However," Kakashi said, putting the list away, "We did manage to get in touch with the dealer's assistant. Sort of his second in command, if you will. Luckily this new contact had no idea that they were dealing with Orochimaru and is perfectly willing to work undercover for us," his sole visible eye crinkled up into what passed for a smile, "We will probably be able to delay shipments of the chemicals for a while before we have to make a decision."

"What about the bases?" Keika spoke up, "If two are located close to Konoha, shouldn't that be our priority?"

He nodded solemnly, "Yes. We're going to have to delay our work here and return to Konoha. I wouldn't trust a messenger hawk with this sort of information and the Hokage needs to hear about this as soon as possible. Get some sleep everyone, we'll leave first thing in the morning."

Keika and Itachi left the room and headed down the hall. Keika twiddled with the senbon in her hair. This was really worrisome. They were taking time out of a filled schedule to return to Konoha and explain everything to the Hokage, during which time word could get back to Orochimaru that one of his operatives and his supplier were dead. But if they didn't see the Hokage about this, even if they continued their original mission, that was as good as insubordination. This information was vital for the Hokage to hear.

And she was worried about what Danzo-sama might say. He was her boss, she had been placed in this undesirable position to gather information and report back to him. Even though she was in Anbu now, she still worked for Danzo-sama.

"Good job," Itachi said quietly, breaking Keika's thoughts, "You make an excellent interrogator."

It wasn't a comment said with actual admiration, and Keika got the feeling that Itachi might be a pacifist under all the layers of hardcore ninja. "Thank you," she replied out of habit, "But I don't like the job, I'm simply good at it."

"And you pursue that path anyways?" he asked.

She nodded, "I have to. If you are good at a job, you do it. It has never mattered whether I wanted to be an interrogator or not."

"I see," Itachi said simply, and for a moment, just a moment, Keika wanted to ask him why he still kept being a ninja, because she could tell that there was a part of him that did not like the job at all. But then she kept her mouth shut, because she still remembered everything that Hitomi-sensei had told her about the Uchiha clan.

So she said nothing more and focused on going to sleep, because for a ninja, first thing in the morning meant around one or two, when it was still pitch dark out.

* * *

**S-S: Super sorry for the long delay, writer's block. The next chapter might take a while getting out as well. Also, I am going to Fanime Con in May :) If anyone else is attending, tell me cause I would love to meet a fan :)**


End file.
